The Glacian system is an oddity among stars: not only binary system, but a pair of supergiants. Scans of the area show the stars to have been artificially sustained for at least the last 100,000 years, for they otherwise would have long ago gone ‘nova. To add to the oddity of this system, the pair has a planetary system; no tests have been conducted to see if the planets are natural.
All but one of the planets, “Galcian 6“, are uninhabitable, but Glacian 6 has obvious signs of former civilization: not only inhabited, it was entirelyurbanized. The world had been a single city, circling the supergiant pair. Even more startlingly the inhabitation ceased only recently -- evidence shows the world to have been inhabited as little as three hundred years ago.
But the most disturbing fact is that the system hadn’t been marked on any star chart of any current galactic species, as if the entire system has just come into existence within the last three years.
Though recently discovered the world has been ignored, as the Galaxy has been in a state of cold war for the last five years. Ever since the end of the Invaders Wars, nations had been rebuilding from the aftermath of the Commonwealth. Many nations began rapid development programs of military technology -- If an unknown enemy can do so much damage, consider those enemies who are already familiar with us, they thought.
Over the last five years the arms races between many nations has come to a head. In the last decade a few proxy wars have been fought between minor nations which have been little more than proving grounds for many of the other nations. Now though, something is happening in the Glacian system which might change the tide of the future, or drag the galaxy into a multi-sided interstellar war.
For the past few weeks a powerful tachyon-based signal has been broadcast from Glacian 6. Every nation in the galaxy has picked up the signal though it is but a single word: “Ouroboros”. No cultural context is known, just that that single repeats continuously. In response many nations of the galaxy have sent missions investigate the city-world of Glacian 6 to discover what this mysterious Ouroboros is…
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Imperial investigative force, YE 200
Skilath looked down at the City in awe, for while she was part of a newer movement that didn’t place the Astral Shadows on a divine pedestal the City still made her frills dance. The part that she found the most inspiring was that Caspian (as they had discovered the city to be named shortly after their landing), despite being uninhabited for at least 300 years, looked like it had been thriving just yesterday.
Nowhere in the city were there signs of decay or structural degradation, well in the majority of the city anyway. Where she was standing there were definite signs.
Below she could see where a massive part of the city, over a kilometer across, had been destroyed by some cataclysm, the event leaving a large opening in the uppermost layer of the urban underworld. The Signal she tracked came from much deeper in the world, but this opening made for the easiest route into the planet’s depths; with one final look she replaced her helmet. As the helmet meshed with her neural tendrils a HUD appeared in her vision: Distance to signal source - 50 km. She sighed before looking down again. After one final look she lept from the side.
Being a member of the Void Templar had many perks: the one she was relying on now was the ethereal-grade inertial control / damping systems. She could make this 800 meter decent with little outside assistance. Thanks to her armor she was able to keep her descent speed below 20km/h for the duration of the fall, before landing with a soft thud near the bottom of the large opening in the hole. Standing up she was able to see some softly glowing blue sludge a few levels below her. While she wonders about the sludge she had an objective to attend to! With one final glance the Reaver turned from the glowing substance and began walking along the exposed passageway that seemed to mostly closely follow the vector to the origin of the signal.
(Yes part of the Character intro was a part of the opening of the RP. Anyway, posting order is simple, i'll be fair and use a 48 hour roll over period for the RP. Meaning that I will post again even if not everyone has posted within the last 72 hours. Though if everyone has posted before the cut off, I will post sooner. Missing three or more posts within a 4 week period will eject you from the RP. We have a lot of people so keep track of who is posting what so you don't do what someone else is already doing.)
(I know some of you haven't made a character yet, i'm giving you a 1 week grace period to make your character.)
Last edited by Nelle Kozera; 09-19-2011 at 05:33 PM.
Out in space over Galcian 6: Seven blindingly bright lights announce the arrival of seven alien ships. However, these ships did not match any configuration known to the old galactic powers. These new ships were bristling with weaponry, and a cursory glance would show powerful armor and lightly glowing red energy shields. Six of the ships move in a tight formation around the much larger 7th. It descends towards the planet, no broadcast emanating from them. It isn’t until they’re in low orbit that they send a looped message across a wide range of radio frequencies and tachyon communications modes. The message is in the ancient language of the sky children, something all the archaeologists coming to investigate ought to understand.
“Attention all alien vessels. Beneath this world lies a threat to the entire galaxy. Do not interfere with our efforts to disarm it. Any attempts to disrupt us will be met with force. This is for the good of all.”
Two of the smallest ships, corvettes, move into the atmosphere and begin circling around the crater over the signal at a distance of 30 km and spiraling outwards. After the corvettes do that for several hours, the rest of the ships take up geosynchronous orbit over a point several hundred miles away from the crater and remain there, only continuing to broadcast their warning.
+--------------------------+
Several Hours after the SFE ships arrive, another set of alien ships arrive. However, instead of broadcasting their presence, these new ships are completely undetectable as they enter high orbit over the planet. It is a Mirachoco Battle Group, tasked with tracing the signal and determining if it would be a threat to their systems if the Star Fire Empire got their hands on it. At the center of the Battle group, the Mirachoco Alliance Attack Carrier Brave New World sits, observing its surroundings and deciding what to do. On the command deck, deep within the armor of the carrier, forward admiral Herkolo sits.
“Do we have confirmation that this is the source of the signal?” he asks to the command deck in general.
One of the Mirachoco officers replies. “Confirmed, it’s coming from beneath the surface of the planet.”
Herkolo nods. “And the Empire?”
“One battle group present, they don’t seem to have spotted us. We’re also picking up numerous unknown readings. “
“Speculation?”
“Best guess? Other alien civilizations.” The admiral frowns. He opens up his uplink to the Naval Intelligence HQ.
“Intelligence, what do you have to say on it?”
A computerized voice comes back. “Based on the evidence as well as distance from our sector of the Galaxy, the Lieutenants guess seems the most probable. Protocol for this situation dictates that you proceed with extreme caution. Permission to commence the operation, however, is granted. Stealth Systems are to remain engaged at all times.”
Another officer at the communications station pipes up. “Sir, the Imperial ships are broadcasting a repeating loop.”
“Put it on speaker.”
The admiral listens to the message as it is translated by the computer. He frowns. “Intelligence, what does the Pariah say about this planet?”
The computerized voice returns after a few moments. “Subject Pariah states that the Star Fire Empire has no knowledge of this planet whatsoever, in spite of their efforts to seek Precursor artifacts. Analysis returns that there is a 96.394% chance that Subject Pariah is telling the truth. Suggestion: The Empire wishes to discourage the other alien vessels from attempting to locate the source of the signal. Mission parameters are unchanged.”
The admiral nods. “Roger that.” He activates the intercom. “Attention all personnel. Permission for the operation has been granted. The situation is thus: The unknown signal is coming from below the surface of the planet below. The Empire is present, but they haven’t spotted us. Likewise, we are detecting numerous other Alien vessels. Do not engage without my expressed permission. We don’t need more foes coming down on us. Flight decks: launch reconnaissance ships. I want eyes on all parts of this planet. Get scans of the surface; see if we can determine the source of that signal.”
Lower in the carrier, the flight decks begin to bustle with activity. All craft had been fueled and prepped for departure prior to the battle-group’s deployment. Numerous Mirachoco poured out into the hangar deck to their assigned craft. The flight operations officer sat in the control room overlooking the hangar deck. “Attention all pilots: The admiral wants recon done, but doesn’t want too much attention drawn to us. All flights will only have one escort apiece. Atmospherics, we’re only to scan above the source of the signal. Use ground penetrating radar and gravimetrics ; keep stealth engaged at all times. Ground scanners launch first, others are to take up standard coverage positions for orbit, passive sensing only.”
The recon pilots pull on their helmets and load into the scanner craft, while escort pilots hook themselves into their ship’s life support systems. The craft are then lifted to launch catapaults, and flung out the back of the ship, descending to low orbit and eventually into the atmosphere.
On the ground near the crater, anyone listening on the UHF frequencies would notice a series of barely detectable peaks, gaining in intensity at first, then trailing off just as quickly as they appeared. In the upper atmosphere, the scanner and escort accelerate back to orbital velocity. “Brave 1, this is Eyeball 2. We have negative penetration on GPR and Gravimetrics. Something’s blocking us from seeing what’s down there.”
The admiral exchanges glances with one of his intelligence officers. “Copy that Eyeball 1, return to base.” The admiral straightens up. “It looks like something doesn’t want to reveal itself that easily. Guess it’s your turn.” The officer nods. “I’ll brief them right away.”
In the ship barracks, one company had its sleeping, eating, and recreational areas separate from the rest of the troops on the ship. This was a Red company, a section of soldiers used for Top Secret operations by the MASP. 3 particular soldiers stand out, given how they’re a foot taller than most of the other soldiers. The first one, a male, is helping another soldier with some sort of set of arm braces, while two identical females seem to be talking with a few smaller soldiers about something or other. When the intelligence officer enters, they look over to him and stand at attention. “At ease soldiers.” The officer commands. “Passive scanning has failed to determine the source of the signal, so we will have to take a bit more proactive of a solution to finding out what it is. Tres, you 3 will be heading in on foot while sniper teams cover you. Units 2 through 8, you’re going to be searching by air for alternative entrances, and if you can’t get in them, make sure the Empire can’t either. We’ve got numerous alien biological contacts, so we’ll be following biohazard protocol level 5. Everyone suit up, I expect to see you on the hangar deck in 15 minutes.”
As they begin to move to their lockers, the officer waves to the tall male. “Oh and captain? Exercise restraint. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that we don’t need more entire civilizations bent on our destruction.”
The male nods. “Understood, Colonel.” The officer nods back. “Dismissed.”
Captain Tay Korra, one of the MASP’s Ace of Aces soldiers, was along with his twin sisters Adal and Ducy, part of one of the best fire teams the MASP has to offer. He moves over to them, opening a sealed container, revealing his own set of Nireid v4.6 combat, one of the single most expensive pieces of soldier equipment in the entire fleet. His sisters were already pulling on theirs, getting loaded out for the long haul. He knew their preferences for weapons, shotgun and SMGs. Pondering his own choices, he pulls out his own DMR from his equipment locker. “Not going with the sniper rifle, bro?” Ducy asks.
“Underground? Goodness no. Besides, if it comes to it, this thing is just as accurate as a sniper rifle in my hands.”
Adal smiles. “Whatever you say. Ducy, could you lock on my back piece?”
Several minutes later, the Tres is fully loaded out and on the hangar deck, outside of drop-ship S22109 “Storm front” Their commanding officer calls them from the flight deck. “The target area is a large crater, approximately 1.4 Klops across. Sniper teams will be deployed around the perimeter to keep you covered while you rappel down the side. We’ve selected the best possible route, you’ll be dropped off first. Do not proceed until the sniper teams are in position.”
Tay nods. “Copy that, sir. Ready to commence operation.” He gestures to the others, who all begin to load into the dropship.
“Good luck.” The drop ship gets lifted to a launch tube, and flung out into space.
Several minutes later, after a quiet reentry and fly over of the site, they set down at the designated position. They attach some of their remote release climbing gear to a sturdy looking support, and await the signal. Ducy walks out and looks down the crater. “Well, at least it’s not as bad as that jump on Pliedes 7.” She remarks. Just at that moment, the communicators come on.
“Tres descent, this is Storm front. Snipers are in place, I am linking their telemetry to you now.” Tay looks over the crater. Thanks to the sophisticated stealth suites all of the team had been given, he couldn’t see a thing on the far sides of the crater. However, little icons blinked into place on an augmented reality overlay, and shortly after he could see the figures of the sniper teams, their suits sending enough data for him to see what way they were looking and even what fingers they were holding up. In addition, he could see the cone of vision from each spotter’s binoculars as well as a straight line emanating from each sniper rifle. It really helps coordination to be able to see exactly where the other snipers are looking. He gets a bleep from one of the spotters.
“Hey guys, one contact, unknown figure, about midway between teams 2 and 3.” Tay looks in that direction. He sees the spotter who said that’s vision cone turn green, as well as see 3 of the sniper teams point their weapons at it. He pulls out his digital binoculars and focuses on the contact, zooming in. Along the sides of the display in them, he sees the views from the other teams being transmitted. “That sure is an interesting character. Look at those head frills.”
“I’ll say. Captain, engage or ignore?”
Tay speaks up. “Keep an eye on it, it doesn’t seem to notice we’re here.” He zooms out just in time to see it leap from the side of the crater. “What the f-“ he watches it to the ground and land softly.
“Holy crap, did you guys see that? It jumped.” One of the spotters exclaims. Tay frowns.
“Definitely do not engage. Who knows how many defense systems it could have?” Tay returns the binoculars to their container. He looks to his sisters. “Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go.” He links his auto retractor to his descent cable. Along with Adal and Ducy, they hop over the edge and begin their descent.
Brome Teks's Signature
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"Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those that don't understand it." - Florence Ambrose
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from Science!" - Agatha Heterodyne
The Delivery Gator and sometimes a Silent Assassin
Country:
Join Date
Jun 2010
Location
Where I live.
Posts
173
Achievements:
Re: Forbidden Worlds (RP)
**SRC Post**
*Three ships would enter the space above the planet... SRC regulation by the easily seen shining armor and heavy weapons. A crusier, the Hi'lendar. A Destroyer, the Dem'ocle. A Light Carrier, the Swiffer. They'd keep a good distance from any other present ships, before a regulation transmission is sent, "We of the Se'Rallies Confederation are here purely for research purposes... we will remain out of your way if you remain out of ours. Be warned, we are peaceful and won't engage unless threatened." **A Lighter craft would leave the carrier as the transmission was sent out and would make a Crow's Path to the planet... upon getting closer to the planet, it'd drop a pod that'd land swiftly and easily.
Upon the Hi'lendar, Captain Aro'baal just grimaces as the his sensors picks up the seven ships, "Great... not the first to the sector... but at-least the second, eh?" He'd grin at the crew present, "Should we hail them to understand there position here... or no?" He'd say, thinking out loud. This King'ras is quite young to be commanding a ship... but promotions come easy to those that fight for them... literally. Honor has become a very day-to-day thing for the SRC King'ras and fighting for a position meant fighting to the death... Aro'baal obviously was the victor.
Upon the Dem'ocle, Captain Gan'ro brow raises, "Whats this? Another nation? Hmm... guess the transmission was general after all... I want those ships examined under the guise of a sector sweep... then do a sector sweep for the hell of it!" He'd growl at the others, who'd quickly get to work! This King'ras was quarter life now... he thinks of himself as tactically sound and brutally efficient, but in the end is a big blow hard that really gets no respect.
Upon the Swiffer, Admiral Jenks scratches his chin, "Erf... thar be others about already... hmm." He'd sip on his drink. "Have the men prep the fighters and ship-boomers for battle... but do so at an ease pace. We don't want them startled out right." This King'ras was in his 120's and was passed his half-life... he looked as old as he felt and that was about 170. The recovery of the war hasn't been easy on anyone... the sons and daughters of the commanding staff the most.
**On the planet the pod would break open and reveal Josha... he'd step out and looks about, thinking, .oO(Man... they told me this place was crap... just looks empty. Now... to find some tech and some systems... or better yet...) He'd grab his pistol, holsters it, then his large pack with all of his equipment and then his rifle. He'd start heading out, (Probably better if I find survivors... if there are any. Cyro seems like a good tech to have on this occasion.) He'd start heading to the signal's location... the lights of his helm showing him the scene before him, (Got a bit of a walk... nothing much really.) He'd start doing a slow jog then a slow descent!
***CotD Post***
*The three SRC ships had another following them... this ship was a super light corvette that was stealthed to a great degree... it'd go straight for the planet and once there... hovers at 15' over a random location around the signal about 50m away before it zips back into the atmosphere. The King'ver Captain Fen'der glances out the window to the other ships before signing to his crew, -Remember our creed... and keep quiet!- They were already so but she liked to remind them. This King'ver is one of the few Stealth Captain's of the CotD and is a very well respected figure of the CotD Spatial Navy... she has held this rank for 100 years so far, her current age was, has and continues to remain unknown to the current sect of people, but they guess she's close to the end of her life.
**As she drops, Del'sa would land silently... her stealth was already on. She'd scan the land-scape from her position shaking her head, (This is the place? Rather dull and lifeless... I mean... I don't even see any plant life either!) She'd start running now, (Now... to assess the situation... confirm the lacking of life... check. Confirm the SRC presence...) She'd look to her left and spots Josha, (Wow... thats a check. Can't miss that idiot... even from orbit!) She'd chuckle to herself very lightly, almost hissing, (Now... to follow dim-wit here and get a better idea of what's going on.) She'd then spot the Reaver, (HOLY-! A Reaver!) She'd 'ehm', "Log entry 001 of Planetary Infiltration... Reaver spotted... best hope they are still friendly after so long. Other notes... spotted more ground forces, they seem like child's play at this point. SRC Idiot has been spotted, obviously this place holds some great interest due to so many forces... Del'sa out." Her voice was low and quiet... before she started down at a pace less than equal to the SRC Soldier.
Seven ships emerged from Hyperspace some distance out from orbit. Although Draconian FTL speed were unimpressive, they were able to plot a straight path to this planet, a strange situation given the primary weakness of the Draconian hyperdrive. The central ship, an escort carrier, performed the standard system scan.
"FLS Freedom to all ships, fall into orbit. Do not engage or interfere with the other forces unless fired upon first." In an unusual move by the Free Legions, the broadcast was over an open channel; the Rear Admiral in charge of the task force was giving orders to his small fleet and telling everyone that they would not be hostile unless provoked.
"Sergeant, you are to scout out the situation groundside. Do not engage other forces unless fired upon."
"Sir!"
"Your drop zone is here." The Admiral was briefing Sergeant Jaxamar Flameheart personally; he pointed to the same destroyed area that everyone seemed to be heading towards, "Mission objectives; find the source of the "Oroborous" signal; find and scan, or bring back examples of old technology; field test experimental rifle."
Jaxamar blinked, then frowned. He was wearing a new model of Solaris armour that sacrificed the weapon capacity for vastly increased mobility. The modified Shock Mk II helmet that meshed with his suit was resting on the table beside the hologram emitter.
"Sir? Experimental rifle?"
"This thing," the Admiral said, lifting the rifle from the special weapons locker. It was shorter and slimmer than the HVILEC normally utilised by Solaris-wearing troopers... a lot slimmer; it looked like some form of sniper rifle, of a bulpup design, an oddity with Draconian weapons (which usually had the projectile clip attached to the side). Jaxamar recognised it right away. He had, after all, helped test the weapon on the firing range.
"Sir? The X221 'Dragoneye'?"
"That's the primary reason you were selected for this mission, Sergeant; you helped test this thing. Fired it, even. Now then;
"Assigned weapon loadout is the X221, your sword, and an ARK-30 assault rifle."
"Sir!"
"Get to the drop bay, you're in first! Go!"
Jaxamar saluted, grabbed the rifle and his helmet, and then sprinted out.
As the Freedom settled into orbit, a single slot in the powered armour drop bay opened, revealing Jaxamar, now carrying his weapons on his backpack (the assault rifle on the right side (for him), and the "Dragoneye" on the left), and on his hip. His helmet was in place, and he cycled through the optics settings as part of the pre-drop checklist.
"All systems go; beginning orbit-to-surface descent."
He stepped to the edge of the platform, then took a deep breath, and dived off.
As the planet got bigger in front of him, he glanced back at the task force, which was rapidly getting smaller; within moments, it was a cluster of pinpoints.
He hastily turned his head back forwards as the armour sounded a warning; he was getting close to the atmosphere.
His "Burst Shield" ignited as he entered the upper atmosphere; unlike when it was repelling projectiles or weaponised energy bursts, the energy required was less than equal to the supply, so the shield didn't weaken or allow any of the red-hot plasma through. The tiny hexagons that represented the shield wavered, of course, but that was just the nature of the shield itself. The altimetre rapidly counted down, as the white bar that represented the altitude before he could break out of his "bullet-drop" drained.
White drained completely, and orange (representing the safe area where he could break out), began to drain; Jaxamar immediately somersaulted so that he was feet-first, and engaged his thrusters. His velocity dropped rapidly, and he touched down gently on the ledge above the blue sludge.
"This is Sergeant Jaxamar Flameheart; drop successful."
"Bring it up on the central Holotable" The Comm officer, a black wolf nodded and turned to his station, keyed in the command and turned back to face the admiral across the bridge as the central holotable lit up, a full holographic representation of the world, and all the ships detected in orbit. "It would appear we're not the first ones to discover the signal"
The admiral strode foward toward the projector, a femal fox, a deitran, southern continental Desert breed, with rich brown fur, long dark green hair tied back with a few locks framing her face and vibrent green eyes. most importantly though, a pair of large wings adorned her back, the pair of large falcon like wings, matching her fur color, folded neatly against her back. the mark of a fleet admiral. and if that didn't give it away, the five golden 'v's on her collar would. "Display approach vector" a dotted line appeared in compliance, marking the exit point from folded space. the exit vector fell nearly on top of the ships already on site. "Echo, adjust exit vector, back us off a few clicks. I don't want us dropping in on them and suprising them. The black wolf nodded and spun his chair to the console, keying in commands and adjusting the vector. the marks on the holo projector flashed once, and repositioned.
"Sensors read two known ship classifications, the computer logged the rest for any further encounters to determine origins. Forward sensors unable to detect any cloaked vessels" The holoscreen shifted and zoomed in on the various ship classes "SRC has made itself known, and ship designs for one other are familiar, but it seems the nations have been updating their designs in our absence. more than a dozen vessels are equipped for low detection operation, all unknown classifications and empires" The console beeped at the wolf "New contact, dropping from FTL well outside the planets pull...Fuck..." he keyed a command and the vessels appeared onscreen. "Draconians." the ships were different, but the still clearly recognisable as the Draconians "Admiral, I suggest what ever we're gonna do, do it quick."
"Agreed" She nodded to the Helmsman "How long?"
"Two minutes till transition to normalspace Admiral"
"Admiral, one of the unknown ships is playing a message over open channels." The wolf flicked the comm switch and the message played on open comm over the bridge
"Attention all alien vessels. Beneath this world lies a threat to the entire galaxy. Do not interfere with out efforts to disarm it. Any attempts to disrupt us will be met with force, this is for the good of all" the message started to loop and the Wolf cut it off
The admiral stood silently for a long moment, "Threat level?"
Another on the bridge keyed their own console, a female lynx, "From what long range sensors can see, minimal at best admiral. we won't know specifics till we return to normal space"
"Very well, Keep a set of eyes on them, if they try anything, Drop 'em like the metal birds they are" The lynx nodded and returned her attention to her console "Echo, get me a comm to the Tears of the Gods"
"I don loike it ma'am." the deep bass of her XO sounded from behind her, an old Recin tiger breed, well into his years, his rich orange fur edged against his black striping with touches of gray, his once startling blue eyes, now dulled and grayed with age, one paled and white with a mechanical replacement. scars and wounds littered what was visible of his fur under the black uniform he wore, the left side custom fitted for the completely mechanical arm he wore, and stood a good three heads above the winged admiral. the mark of 'commander' on his collar. "Nothing about this fits"
"I agree with you entirely, commander, but we need to find out what this 'ouroboros' is. how little sense it makes is just what has command so worried" The forward screen flicked on and the appearance of a young tigerfox appeared, clad in a mottle of armor, all fitting to the same design, each piece holding more value to him than his own life, she knew. he'd been reassigned under her after losing his command to a commonwealth trap to try to rebuild the confidence he'd lost that day. his blue tinted visor folded back and out of the way. by salarian customs, ones which the commandos themselves had appearantly come up with, hiding your face while speaking to a superior outside of combat, was considered highly disrespectful
"Good evening Ma'am" he gave her a polite nod "What can I do for you?"
The Salarians amazed her, always did. their personalitys, outlooks and level of respect they held for what was all in tense and purpose, indentured servents, was inspiring. never had she met a Salarian that was in the slightest bit disrespectful given their position within the Empire "Evening Boss. is your team ready?" he nodded.
"yes ma'am, we await your order"
"As soon as we clear folded space, head for the planet and proceed with the mission, support will follow shortly, but we need you in there fast to find out what's happening before everything goes to hell"
"Got it ma'am. Proceeding with mission. Boss out" the screen went dead, leaving the watery blackness of folded space.
"And i don loike dem either..." the old Recin snarled as the screen went dark. wary even to say that much, even without a single salarian on the bridge "Just you watch ma'am, one of these days, they're going to truly understand where they stand in the universe, and turn on us all."
"get with the times ya old coot" he growled but did nothing otherwise at the comment "The salarians are an amazing species, they'd never turn against us like that"
"Folded space exit vector established! permission to proceed with return to normalspace admiral?" she nodded and the helmsman proceeded through the process
The first thing on the sensors, for the few that could even detect it, was a ripple in the fabric of spacetime. nothing more. slowly a gravometric anamoly would begin to register on the various ships sensors, growing larger by the second, eventurally the murky outline of the massive ship would become visable as it surfaced from folded space like a behemoth rising from the ocean, breaking the final barrier between folded and normal space like crashing through a pool of water. immediately the gravity well of the massive ship would set off any ship close enough to get caught within kilometers of it. and teh ship seemed to just keep coming as the long form slid from folded space, till finally the giant engines lit the darkness with their glow and the ship slid into an orbit over the pole. the one place it would have the least amount of effect over the planet due to it's size. pin points of light appeared all along side it, as much smaller ships slipped back into normal space along side it. their size dwarfed by the massive ship, the name Icarus Hunt inscribed in ancient orion on it's bow. even the old ship had seen renovations.
immediately one of the points of light broke off and screamed planet side, slicing through the atmosphere like a hot knife, barely slowing till it was just a click from the origin of the signal. The bottom of the ship suddenly folded away, launching three black clad figures at high speed at the city. the ship though, didn't stop folding there, the entire ship folding in on itself as screamed closer to the city. the three black armor clad figures hit the city streets with enough impact to crack and spiderweb the ground. a crouch, and leap absorbed the excess energy and each was off at a dead sprint toward their entry point into the lower levels of the crater. the ship, as it became folded back till a feline figure could be seen, the ship folding and storing itself away into one of the crystals on the creatures shoulder as it landed nimbly on a rooftop, not so much as a sound coming from it as it landed, got it's bearings and hopped ledge to ledge till it was on ground level with the three Salarians in it's squad, now waiting for 'it' at their entry point.
A few hand signals and the four spread out as they enter the caverns, weapons at the ready for the first sign of trouble, each just out of sight of one another
Buzzwolf's Signature
"...it'll keep you warm though it is a bit disgusting...it's a sheeping bag, that's what it is..." -Bear Grilles
"The real Heroes are the ones that never came back..." -unknown
"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world." -Robin Williams
Kraal sat with her legs crossed, eyes closed in thought, in her customary spot in the ship's observation deck. The deck was built over the bridge, allowing the wise-men and in her case women, to meditate in privacy but still be close enough to reach the bridge in case of emergency. It had been five days since the young Kratian had left her home to seek out the aliens among the stars. The Vat Mother, in her wisdom, had withheld the information of their locations, promising to tell them when they were ready, but the Goddess of the Kratians was gone now, leaving them in a state of distress.
Kraal shook the thought from her mind, trying again to center herself, feeling the ichor within her body trying to reach out across the universe, feeling for the Vat Mother and finding nothing but silent space. Her thoughts turned toward her people as it often did when she thought. They were lost. It was the best way she could put it to herself. Despite having leadership, they were lost, without purpose. She didn't fool herself. The republic leaders only wanted to find the other nations to find out what had happened to the Vat Mother.
She was jolted from her thoughts as something echoed across space. It was a feeling, something the ichor recognized vaguely but didn't truly react to. It felt important and she slipped from her trance. She stood, brushing her robes off as she stalked to the elevator, riding it down to the bridge. The Kratians looked up, seeing her and muttering their respects. The men didn't like her presence, the women resented her for her status, but she ignored them, rushing over to the communications console, "Check that way." she commanded silently and the male obeyed, not wanting to be the one to answer to the republic for defying her.
"There's nothing th-," the male began, then leaned forward, fidgeting with the console, "... it's light, but it's there. A message of some kind. I don't recognize it from the Vat Mother's wisdom." Kraal's face set in a determined scowl, pointing out into space, "light or not, it's there. There we shall find someone, something. Lock in on the coordinates."
The ship, covered in tribal design dropped into a wormhole, shooting across the space between them and Glacian 6. Kraal found herself equally in awe of the spacial oddity as the regular crew as it filled their view. She almost lost herself in the wonder of it all if it hadn't been for her eyes spotting several ships around them. She froze, placing her hand on the nearest Kratian, "Wait," she said quietly, "let them come to us if they will..."
Hyperlight travel, one of the fastest, most comfortable not to mention one of the most secure methods of interstellar travel there was. No gravity pulses to give away your tonnage or numerics, no distinct energy signature to trace. An all new technology, at least, hopefully so. Hundreds of years of silent, invisible progress, one had to wonder weather it would be enough. The OSSV "Hyakaryu", a recent addition to the OSU navy, a long-distance strategic reconnaissance cruiser, vertical patterned as all ships above destroyer class were. It's mission? To scout the Old Race signal of "Ouroborus"from the Glacian system, to determine if it originated from surviving sects of their civilization, weather it posed a threat to their existence and to see if it could be recovered for long-term analysis.
As it passed through the immaterial realm that was Hyperlight space silently, incognito, it monitored events ahead using it's twin deep-space sensor arrays.
Unlike traditional ship designs, the Hyakaryu was, in the barest and simplest of terms, an "oversized space-faring robot" as there were no walkways, no break-rooms not even oxygen, nothing a traditional space faring vessel would possess could be found inside the Hyakaryu, given how it's crew was entirely adaptive software, even so... the cyberspace bridge of the vessel buzzed with activity, millions of actions in the span of a second yet to them, hours passed, the nature of cyberspace... and Hyperlight space.
~"Estimated time of arrival?"~ the disembodied voice of the vessels primary intelligence resonated pleasantly, an electronic chime, almost music to the ears of biologicals if there were any onboard.
~"Approximately 10 standard minutes, command."~ Came the swift response of the navigational intelligence, the second of the five which contended with operating the primary function processes of the ship, navigation and control, sensing and pattern recocnition, offensive and defensive tactical engagements, strategic processing and xenological and archeological studies.
~"We will be exiting some 2000 kilometers from the planets gravity well, we don't want to attract unwanted attention."~ There was a slight pause, the intelligence seemingly frowning, crunching the numbers it was receiving from the Hyakaryu's sensor arrays several times in the span of a single thought to be certain of it's findings.
~"Sensor pings indicate the presence of numerous unknown vessels in orbit around this planet, designation; Glacian 6."~
~"Noted addendum, some of these vessels bear resemblance to designs used by two of the old powers command. One appears of dreadnaught configuration. It would appear that the old powers survived the Infestor wars after all! We are not alone it would seem, the creator databanks have proven invaluable once again command."~ the third intelligence sounded in, sounding excilerated at the prospect of finding other intelligent life out there in the big emptyness of space.
~"Any anomalies detected? No matter how minute we need as much detail as possible. What old power vessel configurations are present?"~ The apparently somewhat perturbed command intelligent requested, the presence of the old powers was somewhat disconcerting.
~"SRC configurations detected, broadform transmission detected; declaration of non-aggression unless provoked noted, secondary transmission detected. Vessel configurations unknown, designs are foreign. First Relations event noted, diverting transmission to xenological linguistics for translation. Addendum, Orion Galactic Empire configuration also confirmed, dreadnaught vessel displays allegiance to the OGE. Creator databanks note attempted alliance due to "similarities in biologies, convergant evolution and physical attractiveness, raw military prowess". Data indicates failure to complete proposals due to Infestor arrival."~ the third intelligence sounded again.
~"Organics... so eager to compensate for inadiquate genitalian regions..."~ the primary intelligence sounded again, this time with a more light-hearted feel and sound to it's voice, seemingly enjoying a game of perpetuating the belief that all gargantuan type vessels created by organics existed solely for the purpose of acting as primitive displays of hormone driven territorial instincts, displaying the proud size of their mating organs to the universe as a testamount to their power and right to breed.
~"Course of action command?"~ the fourth intelligence sounded in, it's voice more robotic than the other three, a pleasant electronic cacophany. Awaiting along with the other three they eagerly sought the main intelligences decision. Would they pull out due to the high risk of discovery by the numerous powers patrolling the source of the Old Race signal, or would they continue despite the risk?
There was a period of delay, a moment of contemplation for the intelligences... before the answer. ~"Ease us into normal space-time, but initiate zero-emission protocols and inititialize stealth-shielding immideatly upon normal space-time admission. It is unlikely that the existance of our people will go unnoticed much longer but that does not mean we ought to blindly announce it to the rest of the old galactic powers."~
~"Directive acknowledged command!"~ the other four intelligences sounded, evident that they were all excited about the prospect of meeting the old powers, discreetly as it were but nonetheless, they were still meeting them. With that the Hyakaryu began to ease itself through decelerationfrom Hyperlight space into normal space-time. From out of normal sensor range, space would appear to contour around a large horizontal object, the membrane of reality stretching forth and for but a brief moment a brilliant white vessel would emerge out of FTL before seemingly delving underneath the surface of reality. Shimmering with bluish-white light as it disappeared from sight and from sensors across the board before anyone had the oppertunity to sense it's clandestine appearance on the stage.
~"Moving for geo-synchronous orbit, firing engines for a 10 second burst."~ the second intelligence sounded, the Hyakaryu's powerful yet low-emission engines firing at maximum thrust for the pre-determined amount of time as the vessel rode the equivelent of Newton's first law, unapposed motion. Perpetuating itself towards the planet in complete silence it entered into orbit not long after. Low-profile orbital alignment thrusters making short work of it's clandestine easing into a stableorbit.
~"Orbit achieved, detection status nominal, sensor readings detected, one of the old powers appears to be scanning for detection shielded vessels, manouvering out of sensor range."~ the third intelligence sounded, more than a little alarmed at the prospect of being searched for, though the readings were fairily old, suggesting the old power fleet had begun their scanning sometime prior to the Hyakaryu's arrival.
~"Beginning low-profile penetration scans command, stand-by... massive planetary trauma detected... apparent impact crater detected, severe damage to surface city infrastructure... "~ Sensor sweeps ran on multiple spectrums, analyzing every scrap of data and surface they could glide over, inconspigously of course. Their readings were... inconclusive as far as deep-penetrations went.
~"Interference coming from the planet?"~ the command intelligence inquired, dissatisfied with not getting a clear idea of what they were getting themselves into.
~"Not quite interferance command, we are cutting through several layers of the planets upper crust, definately non-standard subtarranean citial layout, interesting in and of itself but the distortions get worse the further down we go. It appears we've reached the limit of our current sensor technology."~ the second intelligence chimed in, dissatisfied with the results of their scan as well.
~"You summoned me?"~ a fairily young-sounding voice materialized from somewhere outside the five intelligences domain, connected via I/O porting.
~"Yes we summoned you Adyin. It appears our initial presumptions of surface scans proving insufficient were correct, we would like you to download into a mobile platform and take a shuttle down to the planets surface, we require a more thoroughly analysis of the anomaly beyond the meager readings we are receiving from up here."~ the command intelligence stated, although more in a requesting, needing manner than a direct order format, suggesting a level of respect for it's subordinates.
~"Am I to attempt contact establishment with any of the surviving old powers? Or the newly discovered power for that matter?"~ Adyin inquired, his inquisitive nature had naturally led him to requisitioning an I/O slot in one the primary sensor arrays, so of course he had seen the new vessels and heard their broadform transmission.
~"As of yet undetermined reconnaissance, we are not yet ready to reveal our existence to discretion is strictly advised, however if it cannot be helped, try to portray a less than hostile image of us. Your primary mission objective is reaching the source of the signal and analysing it, bring back samples, intact technology if you can, but for the most part just reach it, scan it and return with all your functions. Mission parameters understood?"~ the command intelligence inquired.
~"Mission parameters understood; avoid contact with old and new powers if possible, display non-aggressive tendencies if unavoidable, primary objective reaching and analysing signal source, secondary objective acquire samples and or intact technology, tertiary paramters are to return intact to mission base, acknowledged command!"~ Adyin chirped happily, dangers as it was, he was excilerated to get to test out his new chassis in an actual real world and not just a simulated environment.
~"Very good, report to I/O tower 4 and begin downloading procedure, defragment and re-arrange yourself accordingly, no errors will be permitted through the datalink and also, leave most of that holo-drama folder of yours behind, it's clogging up your processes something fierce..."~ the command module continued, sounding somewhat reprimanding but in a soft-toned voice.
~"Yes, yes grandfather clock! Reporting!"~ Grandfather clock... a nickname for intelligences who behaved like elderly overseers, carefully interacting with their subordinates. A kind nickname, but a funny one still. Adyin streamed himself to the nearest I/O tower right after for transition from the digital world of the Hyakaryu's synthetic reality, to the reality inside the Orcus Novus, his personal shuttle craft.
~"Command, Reconnaissance 5 reporting in. Ready to descent, Orcus Novus immideate prepare and departure request pending"~ he smiled, the Orcus Novus was a shuttle-themed craft designed for long-term operations and even a tad bit of actual combat and it included everything from on-board mechanical trauma facilities to a lounge area and every other thing inbetween as well, all neatly packed in a way that'd make pretty much anything living feel cramped and uncomfortable.
It did have a spacious cargo bay however... Reprimanding himself for that mental booty remark he awaited permission which arrived a split-second later in the form of the elongated, mass twin engined vessel his intelligence now resided within being slid off the massive mechanical rail of the Hyakaryu's mechanical hangar. He could feel every motion, and being loaded into a low-profile linear catapult for ejection pre-launch preporation and diagnostics felt an aweful lot like being soothingly massaged, prepped for the dangers ahead.
~"Orcus Novus prepared. Diagnostics complete, functions nominal, fuel levels at maximum. Orcus Novus ready for departure. You may launch when read Reconnaissance 5. Fortuitus chances in your endevours."~ came the assuring voice of the third intelligence.*
~"Acknowledged, fortuitus chances of mission success accepted. Calculating trajectory, vector established. Launching!"~ with that the linear catapult lit up as electricity arched along the Orcus Novus' outer hull. Electromagnetism grappled onto it and effortlessly slung it forward as the launch-tube blast-door opening like a great big spherical optic before the Orcus Novus was ejected into open space. Shielding itself from detection the moment it slipped past the Hyakaryu's protective stealth shielding the Orcus Novus' thrusters immideatly kicked in with minute accelerations and decelerations to steer the large craft towards the planet below.
With it's armashield projection system at maximum it slipped past the planets upper atmosphere, the magnetosphere offering little resistance on account of the shield. A clever mechanism for shielding the Orcus Novus from ready detection, or at least minimizing the chances of it being detected by significantly reducing the plasma trail generation that usually results from planetary re-entry. Minutes later the Orcus Novus was past the planets upper atmosphere and was now coasting, it's powerful engines supported by it's aeroelastic wing designs, letting it glide as it steadily progressed towards the massive crater below.
The sensation of flying, of feeling the wind against his massive bodies wings, the power of his limbs which were the Orcus Novus' thrusters, the steadfastness of it's assuredly accurate navigation suite and the safety of the craters airspace being free of hostiles, that was assured by the ships sensors, albiet their sweeping, low-profile nature did pick up a number of impacts and a singular high-altitude leap by what Adyin perceived to be old world troopers wearing something akin to gutted robotic infantry for protection... He swiftly veered clear of those troops lest he risk undue discovery.
Aside from the relatively unwanted near discovery events things went smoothly, albiet normally he'd just land in the crater and progress from there but the chances of detection that way were far too high to risk it. As such the Orcus Novus extended it's spherical-wheeled landing gear and touched down close to the edge of the crater, it's powerful engines, though nearly silent, still kicking up some dust particulates but not that it would matter to anyone at the bottom of the crater.
Retracting it's engines and shifting to base format through compacting it's form and extending it's primary sensor array it gave a brief scan of the area, just to make sure nobody was hiding behind an optical cloak or a mirror-field, before sounding the all-clear, though Adyin had to mentally, verily, kick himself over the head because for all intents and purposes he WAS the Orcus Novus, so he was really sounding the all-clear to himself... Now the fun part... adapting to reality.
The Orcus Novus had onboard itself, in it's android alcove, Adyin's custom chassis. A brief visit to the onboard I/O tower and a big compact and zip process later... and the physics based limitations of actual reality replaced the complete freedom of cyberspace. For anyone else but those used to accessing physical forms the transition was akin to stepping through a portal and waking up looking through someone elses optics, a relatively interesting if unnerving experience. Adyin flexed his arms, the synthetic myomer muscles felt good, felt strong and ready. His custom pair of holo-drones emerging from their smaller alcoves to take flanking positions on each shoulder, each with a big on their screens as a show of affection for being back in active mode, and for their master unit being physically active again.
Having a physical form was something special to him, it made it clear that he could and now indeed did exist as much more than just a highly comparmentalized and organized database program file zipping about a vast information network. Ejecting from his alcove he felt the fuel-tube retract from... really he just felt it retract, checking his fuel gauge he found he was full and had a good five days worth of optimal operation guaranteed with a two day back-up supply. Not exactly the most popular choice of long-term power supplies the recyclic fusion reactor, but he had chosen to equip his custom chassis with it for the simple reason it could readily accept processable materials from almost anywhere to continue fueling itself. Thus it had the potential to last ten times as long as even the most sophisticated long-term power supplies did.
Stepping onto the outfit rack he mentally qued for the long-term engagement and analytical package, four mechanical arms analyzed and quickly affixed his gear to his frame, electromagnetically and mechanically adding the necessary armour and weapons, gear too, for the mission in a matter of moments, his helmet attachment coming last, making him appear more like what he was, an advanced synthetic ready to tackle any environmental challenge.
The front of the shuttlecraft elongated like a neck, housing the primary control modules it lowered itself on the ground and opened like a cockpit, armour plating sliding back and permitting a single humanoid entity to step outside. Feeling the rocky ground beneath his soles and inbetween his toes. The design of his leg armour accounted for individual toes with numerous sensors in the soles for better analysing the environment, this enabled a much more stabler, and in Adyins personal oppinion a much more attractive design than organic species "boot" footwear... stretching his limbs... flexing his mechanical arm-rifles fingers, he grinned, his facial mask sliding over to cover his handsome, artistically crafted facial expressions from damage, he took his first steps fowards towards the craters precipice, his holo-drones hovering about, emitting silent but audible to him, curious beeping noises and each with a plastered O.O expression of wonder on their faces.
~"Quantum entanglement communication procedures initialized. Message burst one. Safe arrival achieved, no detection noted, no old power units visibly present aside from "Shock-Jumpers" detected earlier, proceeeeee!!... #/%#/"#
Adyin's foot had gotten cought on something... a rock... no... sensors indicated the texture of high-tensile, tightly-woven fiber cabling of some sort! And it completely threw his balance, sending his graceful figure tumbling, arms flailing straight on his face... caking his facial visor in dirt and causing a few micro scratches on the coloring of his helmet, kicking up a small cloud of dust particles as a result and scrambling the message he was in the midst of composing... The holo-drones zipped to his aid, only to display bright flashing XD's on their screens. Though detection shielded much like himself, augmented reality still allowed him to see them, as much as he desired he couldn't at that very moment...
"Annoying 256 terrabyte asymetric adaptive encryption viral encoding!!" he cursed... at least, what counted as a curse for him. He erased that last part of the previously drafted burst message and sat on his tush, dusting himself off as he collected data from his touch-based sensors and compiled a holographic. Augmented reality overlay which described the shape and feel, thanks to his feeling the object ensnaring his ankle, of what appeared to be visual detection shielded... rope? Try as he might he couldn't penetrate the stealth systems being used to shield it's existence but now that he knew it was there his augmented reality overlay had no trouble marking its location and outlining it where he had felt along it... by tugging on it and feeling along it with his hands and snagged foot he quickly found it lead off into the distance... and right off the craters edge.
~"Addendum... Hit a physical snag, appears that an unknown old world power has descended into the crate via rapelling system. Databanks suggest heavy possibility of the species designated as "Reavers" being present, though given nature of technological analysis highly unlikely that they would use a cloaked rapelling system, possibly a new power encounter... investigation shall commence incognito upon reaching the base of the crater. Reconnaissance 5 first report."~ with that he compiled and burst-sent the message to the Hyakaryu.
Stepping close to the edge of the massive crater, he peered down... smirking at the sheer oppertunity for even more gliding he prepared himself, flexed his muscles, adapted his micro-flaps and with a running bound leapt off the craters edge and soared like an invisible flying predator into the seemingly but not actually boundless depths of the crater, his drones following like pilot fish, flying pilot fish. Micro-flaps along his armour enabling him to steer without trouble and gravitic reduction let him keep his descent at under 25 kmp for detection reduction purposes, gradually reducing his fall rate until he neared his optimum breaking height. Once he was less than one hundred meters from the bottom of the crater, nearby what his long-range optics determined to be some sort of viscous fluid, he engaged his burst thrusters, letting out a powerful jet-stream from his boots, thighs and back which proved nearly enough to stop his downard motion entirely but instead cushioned it so greatly that he landed with an almost inaudible thud instead.
Standing up from his landing position, his thrusters retracting, his sensor suite maximizing it's range and power output he began to scan for the source of the signal, and without even being aware of the presence of anyone else... well, not yet anyway, the agent of the Ovarian Systems Union began his march towards the Orobouros signal... determined to stake his claim, or at least snap a few pretty digital photographs! His drones following, happily streaming all the data into their own personal memonic databanks for safe keeping, keeping a watchful sensor array out for trouble.
Jaxamar knelt at the edge of the ledge he was on, studying the glowing blue sludge.
"A sample of this stuff would be ideal," he muttered, "But I don't have any drones or vials. E-scanner it is."
He drew the device from its sheath on the underside of his forearm and activated it, running the fan of blue energy across a section of the substance. As soon as the reading was completed, he stored the device again; he didn't have time to study this reading, even though it had been stored in his suit's mission recorder.
Turning, he scanned for an opening, then jogged to the exposed passageway; the signal was coming from that direc-. "Freedom to Jaxamar! Ichor detected! I repeat, Ichor detected!" "What? Here? How?" "An alien ship just dropped in-system; all signatures seem to be aboard the vessel. You suit should be capable of detecting them, but stay out of their way; the Invaders used that stuff to gain control of any life-form it infected."
"Copy... Out."
Jaxamar reached up to his assault rifle and brought it to ready position, loading flack canisters into the canister launcher, effectively turning the attached under-barrel weapon into a shotgun. He started to jog along the exposed passageway, his longer strides carrying him faster than the Reaver that was ahead of him, although he wasn't aware that s/he was there.
(OOC note: Man that gender change thing is confusing)
"Ship has been identified of commonwealth make!" the rotating holodisplay held an image of the tribal laden ship somewhere off the Icarus Hunt's Starboard side. Two of the Salarian ships had already moved in on an intercept, halting between the commonwealth ship and the Icarus Hunt as if a pair of royal guardians, daring the ship closer to even try to touch their king "Presence of Ichor is affirmitive. matching complete. no doubt about it now commander"
A deep growl came from the XO "Starboard cannons to full! I want them to be space dust before it becomes a threat!" a single ship. he didn't care. it was of commonwealth origin, and he was going to cut the head off before the talons showed themselves.
"Belay that order" The admiral strode onto the bridge, immediately reassuming control "Bring the cannons down to fifty percent."
"Admiral..." the tiger growled "let me destroy them. they are commonwealth. nothing good can come of this" his paws flexed at his irritation
"Look again commander" a hand out before her prompted a holokeyboard to form beneath it, and a command had the central display focused on the markings on the ship "If I'm not mistaken, the commonwealth didn't decorate their ships with tribalistic markings" another flick of her wrist and a Salarian appeared on screen, his helmet and visor immediately folding back
A black wolf type Salarian appeared from under the visor and gave a polite nod "Evening Admiral--"
She cut him off "Captain Ishi, make contact with the unknown ship, standard contact procedures. if they show any aggression toward you or any of the other ships, your orders are to dust them. is that understood? if they prove to be commonwealth or some new faction of the same, get rid of them"
"with Pleasure ma'am" the screen shut off and she looked down on the XO from the raised entry way of the bridge
"Does that make you happy commander?" the tiger merely snorted, "Good. you have the bridge. don't go making space dust unless they actually try to do something" she turned and left for her personal quarters just off the bridge
______
One of the Salarian ships manuevered closer to the unknown ship, the other swinging wide to provide cover without putting it's sister ship in danger. an open band broadcast clicked to life
Attention unidentified vessel, This is the Captain Ishi of the Concord Dawn, Salarian of the Orion Galactic Empire. You're ship has been indentified as commonwealth origin. Stand down weapons and open a channel for communications. your failure to comply will be taken as hostile action and your ship will be brought down with all force necessary. we await your decision.
The channel remained open, awaiting a reply
______
The observer paused in his step, his eyes glowing faintly as he relayed a signal from the Icarus Hunt to his team Commander, his voice literally in their heads, calm and flat. completely untraceable and uninterceptable The admiral wishes to inform you, presence of the Ichor has been detected aboard a ship that just arrived out of warp, proceedures are being run this very moment to deal with the situation in orbit. we are to proceed with the best of caution and proceed with the mission till further orders are recieved, breaking silence only if contact with Ichor life forms is made
"Roger that" Their suits, while not designed to repel or negate the effects, had the benefit of dispersing the 'radiation' of the ichor out through the pocket dimension in their suits. unfortuenately, previous exposure had only been short contact operations. there was no telling what sustained contact might do.
"Contact, Boss" his comm clicked, the voice of Jazz filling it "it's the Draconian" she sat on a ledge far off from his position, high above in the levels of the crater, well outside of detection range. "Looks like he's taking readings of some sort of blue goo that's pooled on a lower level of the crater. might be worth looking into" she watched him carefully through the scope of her sniper, and flagged the blue goo with her HUD for the rest of her team to find. he'd never see her. "orders?" she dropped a few ledges, maintaining a visual as he headed deeper into the crater
"Maintain visual, but do not engage unless absolutely necessary" he recieved a double click in return, a comfirmation of the order before the line went dead. with so many interested in the signal, something was happening, having a set of eyes on some of their compettion, couldn't hurt a thing. "Scorch, Anima, fall in on her position, but keep your distance. if my hunch is right, we're all headed in the same direction anyway"
Buzzwolf's Signature
"...it'll keep you warm though it is a bit disgusting...it's a sheeping bag, that's what it is..." -Bear Grilles
"The real Heroes are the ones that never came back..." -unknown
"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world." -Robin Williams
"Captain," yelled one of the Kratians behind Kraal, speaking to the aged Kratian sitting near the back of the bridge, "tagged vessel," it appeared on the main screen as he spoke, "is charging weapon systems and targeting us!" The bridge came alive as the Kratians began preparations to defend themselves, but they all knew an open conflict would mean their destruction, even more so when the vessel was tagged from the records of the Commonwealth as an Orion ship.
Kraal stood motionless, eyes closed and head cocking this way and that, "Hold Captain... Something... Is happening." The crew froze, staring at her as if she'd lost her mind, but at the same moment, the same Kratian from before piped up, "T-their weapons have cooled to half-charge. Ships moving to intercept." A female Kratian next to Kraal, the communications console, turned to the Captain with a relieved look on her face, "Intercept ships are hailing us." The message played for all to hear and all eyes turned to the captain.
The elderly Kratian adjusted his slim ship-suit, eyes fixed on the wise-woman that had usurped so much of his authority, though he didn't hold any aggitation toward her for doing so, "Kraal," he said in a hissing voice, "the honor of responding is yours. I'm too old and set in my ways for this kind of thing."
Kraal blinked in surprise, but nodded, "Weapons, stand down. Communications, please open the channel," she took a deep breath, letting the ichor fill her mind with the words that those on the other side would understand, "We will comply," she answered the Salarian slowly, "we are not Commonwealth. We are the Kratians. On behalf of the Kratian Republic of the Empowered, I extend an offer of peaceful interaction."
Every Kratian on the bridge tensed, watching the ships hovering like vultures ready to pick them clean...
Urgol strode through to the Pilot Bay, Gene following close behind. Shara sat at the controls, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"The readings are off the chart, Mak. Dozens of ships have entered from orbit in the past few hours alone, including several which we only managed to detect through the movements of gasses in the atmosphere, and communications are coming in thick and fast"
Urgol started "Communications? We're being contacted directly?"
The ship was currently lying somewhat hidden inside a large industrial complex on the opposite side of the planet than the crater that was emitting the mysterious signal. It had no major stealth equipment to speak of, other than basic radar jamming, but the last time the small crew had checked, they had seemed to be alone on the planet.
In response to Urgol's question, Shara shook her head. "No, captain, these are being publicly broadcast, but none are in languages that our system recognises. It's working on an estimated translation now."
Gene frowned at them both in thought "Dozens of ships? What is it, a flotilla? Are we sitting across a war band?"
A small noise indicated that the translator had finished. Mak leant in and read from the screen, before shaking his head at Shara. "It's not working properly anymore. It's gone too long without being used"
"Nonsense, let me have a look at it" She pulled it to her and read, emitting a slight noise of surprise. "It can't lock on to a single verbal pattern, which either means that we've come across a race with a constantly fluxing language... or there are several completely different races, all unknown to us, and all converging within a short distance from the crater"
The crew were stunned into silence. They had come to the planet for the sole purpose of finding new races; an inhabitable planet emitting a long range transmission of a single word was just too good an opportunity. Of course nearby races, if any existed, would sent crews to investigate. The Cahabīn had lain in wait to observe any incoming ships and their people, and to decide their fate at the hands of the DWB empire. Establishing contact was not necessary if circumstances dictated they be destroyed. But for several races to arrive in a short space of time and to make the first contact so flippantly... it seemed too much. How could the 3 Cahabīn maintain control and work through the new races while each pursued their own goals?
The best hope they had was that each race would be an ally of the next, meaning they could be treated as one being, or that they would wage war with one another, meaning that the Cahabīn could act as rogue agents, perhaps even destroying their chosen races without needing to fight themselves.
Gene, at least, was hoping for the latter.
"Set course to the signal source, and stop as soon as visual contact with another ship is made," Urgol said "Let's meet these new potentials..."
Tchier sat on the SRC's Hi'lendar, staring at the clean, plain wall opposite his hastily thrown together bed. He appreciated having been picked up by the ships young captain. He had spent the last two decades of his life hopping from ship to ship, and his efforts had often got him close to being killed. He was glad of being on board a ship that both knew he was there and allowed his continued presence. The month he had spent among shipments of frozen gruel in the bottom of a stinking, and very slow, frigate had been the worst of his life. At least, since his escape.
But now he was beginning a new part of his life. One where he could pay his way with the many forms of currency that he had... 'come across' over his travels. And who knows, perhaps he would find himself being useful to these king'ras.
SliceOfDog's Signature
Director Scififur.net
XAP Co-ordinator - In particular Uplink Lambda
The Delivery Gator and sometimes a Silent Assassin
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Join Date
Jun 2010
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Where I live.
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173
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Re: Forbidden Worlds (RP)
**SRC Post**
*On the Hi'lendar...
Aro'baal glances to the screen and watches their passenger, Tchier, "Thats an odd fellow... hmmm. Gez'deen? Hold the bridge as I go have a chat with this... hitch-hiker." He'd stand as another King'ras moved to take his place, and would start issuing preparation orders. Aro'baal knew his ship well, he spent many a sleepless nights roaming the ships interior... after a few short minutes he'd knock on the door to Tchier's room, "This is the Captain... please open up and allow for inspection." Just as any smart captain would... he brought four guards with him... two for the out and two for the in. Hopefully he'd get a basic idea as two what Tchier was and what he was doing wandering as he was.
*On the Damo'cle...
Gan'ro would be giving rapid orders... some of his orderlies unable to keep up with their captain's rapid sucession. He'd growl as he was forced to slow down, "If I have to demonstrate the power of my command..." He'd draw his blaster-pistol, "SO be it! Next man to flaw or fumble will receive my eternal wrath!" Obviously... under such negotiations... the crew started to work more rapidly as the ship's weapons were cleaned and prepped... of course... there would be one mistake that'd fill the Bridge with a scream and the powerful 'Koom!'... "There is -ALWAYS- one that earns my wrath... always one."
*On the Swiffer...
Jenks observes his screens and sees the actions being taken on the other two vessels... he can only sigh, "First casualty... dealt by the hand of Gan'ro... I warned them that he was temperamental despite his great amount of efficiency... whelp! Lets not let those youngin's put us down! Prepare all systems. Keep everything on standby... I don't want this ship to be the first target if things get out of hand!" And upon his order, everything would light up and would start to get set into motion, "Good thing I had the minis prepared." ((OOC: Mini's being all the Fighters, Fighter-bombers and Anti-capital-bombers.))
**Josha sighs as he just -now- spots the Draconian, "Feth... just when I was hoping that their wouldn't be any of them... that... and there are alot of new and old races... honestly... this is really annoying. I wonder..." He'd point his rifle up and fires! The boom from this weapon can be easily heard from a good distance. He'd then turn on his coms, "Swiffer? This is Josha... there are multiples down here... none are CotD as hoped... ATBT?" ((OOC: ATBT - Actions to be taken))
**CotD Post**
*On the super-light-corvette...
Fen'dar signs, -Alright... bring her about to the Orion's vessel... perhaps they can help us in case the SRC decides to pull something.- The ship nimbly moves towards the Orion's vessels but at a respectful distance, they'd give the Orion's communication systems a 'knock' seeing if they have permission to speak or not... of course they wouldn't drop stealth just yet, choosing to be 'safe than sorry' due to the present SRC ships.
**Dal'sa watches the 'Shiny Idiot' from behind some cover... flinches, and shakes her head, (Damn... that idiot is going to get himself killed!) She'd pull her rifle to her shoulder and moves from her cover... she'd completely bypass Josha and moves to go down further, "Log 002, same day as previous. Blue substance on lower levels have been spotted... highly likely to be radioactive... best not get to close, else the stealth field may drop and my cover blown." As always she spoke ever so lowly.
From the SFE carrier Isle of Stone, several shuttlecraft exit out and descend towards the surface. They begin to land at several locations not at the crater, but in the city areas within 50 kilometers of it. Only one shuttle drops anybody off near the crater. The team there is composed of 3 of the races of the Star Fire Empire. Each is lead by 2 Auraphim, and in addition to them, have 4 Koroamor ( A large saurian species with a heavy build, a head structure reminiscent of a Triceratops, and a tail not unlike a stegosaurus) and 6 Murilgians (A felid species with prominent saber teeth). In spite of their militaristic nature, most of them were surprisingly lightly armed. The Auraphim and Murilgians were only carrying particle pistols and melee weapons (Swords on the Murilgians and axes or hammers on the Auraphim). The Koroamor however, were carrying some heavier equipment. They had backpack powered energy weapons as their primary choice, and a particle pistol side arm. All of them were wearing some kind of armor made of an alloy of unknown composition.
As the squad approaches the crater, they spot the numerous others arriving. “Seems our warning did nothing to dissuade the Aliens,” one of the Auraphim comments.
The other one returns, “Worry not, they are few. Our numbers in this city will increase a thousand-fold if they try and attack us.” He shoulders his axe. “Let them be for now. We will deal with them only if we have to.”
They trudge closer to the crater.
+================+
“Incoming contact. A drop pod.” Tay looks up to see the snipers focus their weapons on the incoming drop pod.
“Mind sending me a visual?” Tay asks as he descends down another few feet. A couple of PIPs show up on the left of his Augmented reality display. They show what looks like a snow leopard stepping out of the drop pod as three of the snipers focus their sights on the newcomer‘s head. “Looks kind of like a Murilgian, but the snout and fur are wrong… and the empire doesn’t use drop pods. Ignore for now.”
The next noise came from something landing directly into the crater itself. Tay twists around, and sees all four snipers already focusing their sights on the head of some sort of large robot. Tay frowns. “If that thing’s going it, it’ll probably be the thing that triggers any booby traps. We’ll try and stay behind it.” Tay jumps down a few more feet when he gets another ping from a sniper. “More, really?”
The sniper responds. “Three of them this time… no, make that four. At your 220.” Tay turns around to see the 3 black clad figures and the feline shape descend the side of the crater. Each one of the black clad figures had a bead on him. “We’ll be careful with them, luckily they’re going on the other side of the crater from us.”
Tay descends down to about the half way point, with the crater wall at a 45 degree angle, when suddenly he feels his cord shift. “Woah, what was that?” He looks up to see all 4 of the snipers put beads on something on the ledge beyond the rim of the crater. In his PIPs, he sees just some dirt and his cord moving. “Crap, something else has stealth. And they now know exactly where we are.” He looks down the slope of the crater below. He looks to his sisters. “We can make it. Detach cables, get ready for a bit of a drop.” His sisters nod and he can feel the confidence emanating from them, even though he can’t see their faces. They all press buttons on the sides of their auto retractors, and the carabineers currently holding their cables in place open up, letting go of the objects they’re attached to and let the trio fall. At the rim of the crater, there are 3 little pings as each carabineer gets pulled over the ledge.
Tay managed to keep upright and run to burn off his momentum without knocking any rocks down. Both the sisters go into a tumble, and manage to grab onto protrusions and stop each other. Tay makes his way down there. “Come on, we knocked up some dirt. We need to keep moving before anything tries shooting our way.” Tay helps his sisters stand and all 3 of them press buttons on their auto retractors, coiling the fine cable back up into their spools inside the devices. Tay pulls his MX-01, while both the sisters pull out their GX-95 assault rifles.
Adal looks over. “So much for not a peep. Where to, bro?”
Tay pulls out his binoculars and looks over some of the cave entrances. “That one that the frilled lizard thing is going into looks good.”
There’s a beep on his communicator. “What now…”
The computerized voice comes on. “Tres Descent, be advised. The reptilian is part of a race known to be friendly to the Empire, species designation is Perseid. Little is known of them, but they do possess stealth technology beyond our own. Maintain some distance in case of cloaked guards.”
Tay frowns. “Hmm. Hey Camorcha, you were a sniper in the Omega Persei incident, that creature look familiar?”
One of the snipers respond. “Not sure. Those frills look similar, but I only saw them from behind.”
“Right.” He looks to his sisters. “We should take a side path then. That Perseid could leave behind mines and we wouldn’t have any way of seeing them.” He looks to the massive draconian robot making its way into the caves. “That thing’ll probably set any traps off, we should follow a bit behind it.” They begin to follow the Draconian into the caverns.
Meanwhile, the snipers pip up again, “Imperial fire team spotted. Engage?”
This time it’s some other voice responding. “Sniper team, this is Brave 1. Do not engage. We don’t need to reveal our presence to the Empire yet, as far as they know they’ve still got a few days before any of our ships arrive. Tres Descent, if you get the chance to eliminate them in a way that looks like an accident, only then are you allowed to.”
Tay looks between his sisters, then responds. “Affirmative Brave one.” Back to his sisters, he says, emanating mischievous amusement, “I’ll bet this place has plenty of unstable ceilings.”
((To note, their EMF communications are not able to be detected outside their helmets. Instead, like sound, they are blocked and transmitted back to other’s helmets for both increased communication range and greater stealth))
Brome Teks's Signature
________________________________
"Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those that don't understand it." - Florence Ambrose
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from Science!" - Agatha Heterodyne
Nearly skimming the upper atmosphere of the world was the Imperial stealth cruiser New Century. The stealth vessel was part of a forward taskforce who was sent to Glacian 6 to investigate the newly discovered world, and to find the source of the single that had drawn them to the world in the first place. Though New Century was only part of the stealth force, the other part of the taskforce was to join them within the next few minutes.
On the Bridge of the New Century the captain looked towards the pilot. “Navigator, how long before the Nevermore and her taskforce enter the system?” The Reaver in questions reviews the fleet timetables for a moment, before finding her answer. “According to when the Nevermore left the Arvona dry docks, expected arrival time is less than 5 minutes. Expected breach point is seventy kilometers above signal source.” As the navigator was speaking half a dozen hyperspace windows emerged in the upper atmosphere of the planet.
---
Nevermore’s Taskforce Glacian 6 upper atmosphere
For the others, six ships of unknown design exited from hyperspace, five of the vessels where small vessels each about 200 meters long each. At the center of the formation is a much larger vessel in area of 700 meters long. Without any warning, or declaration of intention, the six vessels descended into the atmosphere of the planet over the signal source.
“Captain…” The Nevermore’s Captain looks towards the communication’s officer, “New Century, the vessel that sent ahead of us is reporting that the other vessels in the area have sent down groups of people. It might be in your best interest to announce your intensions. Otherwise you might have a small war on your hands.” The captain of the Nevermore looks deep in thought for a moment. “Right that might be best, we are too far from the main fleet to try and start a war, and attack profitably. Comms, on an open channel broadcast this message: ‘This is Destroyer Nevermore and her taskforce. We are here on behalf of the Imperium of Shadows, while we are not here to induce conflict, although interference with our operations will be considered harassment and possibly hostile actions.’”
Once that was recorded it was broadcast on wideband transmission across the system for a total of about 2 minutes, after that the message stopped and the ships entered their designated positions over the surface. Nevermore and her taskforce stay in formation while the Nevermore takes up her position about 400 meters above the surface about a kilometer away from the entry site….
___
Depth, 800 meters
Skilath was walking at a casual pace as she entered the hall. “Forward, we have ground side contacts, confirmed SRC, OSE and Draconian presence, possible stealth units from the amount of attention this world seems to be gathering.” Skilath was getting the message from her spotter, whom had a commanding view of the area. “Understood, I’ll remain alert for possible stealth units, for the moment I have a Draconian to deal with.” To keep her distance he changed from her causal pace to the typical Reaver jog, which compared to most species would be a fully sustained sprint. As she was “jogging” down the long corridor she would receive a message. “Skilath, we have orders to secure the source of the signal through any means necessary. Lethal force has been authorized if necessary, but it would be best to avoid it if at all possible.”
“Fuck, well there goes my hope for completing this mission without any interference.” Skilath says to herself. “Best I avoid them for now anyway, no need for confrontations until they are necessary.” Saying that she nears a door and stops suddenly, it was obvious that the door didn’t have any power, though that might have been from the amount of damage that was still present in this area of the corridors. Just to confirm her thoughts she checked the normal places in which the sensors are normally placed to no avail. “Damn, well then…”
By now it would be possible for those that where following to catch up to her as she proceeded to pull her sword. Those looking on would see a deep green glow coming from around the sword. She used her hypermetric blade to cut her way through the door’s materials with very little effort at all. Within a span of five seconds she had cut the supports for the door and gently pushed the door open…
On the other side of the door was a giant shaft, those that knew of ancient hive worlds would know that this was a ventilation shaft for the lower levels which meant that a prepared group could climb down a few kilometers in the shaft….
Last edited by Nelle Kozera; 09-24-2011 at 12:32 AM.
Jaxamar spotted the Reaver and slowed slightly. However, he still caught up as s/he cut through the door.
In the meantime, he was picking up chatter from the task force; there was a semi-open encrypted bandwidth only Draconians really used. Because of this, he was able to hear comments being transmitted through the line. "The Reavers left the galaxy 200 years ago. Why are they back now?"
"It doesn't matter; mission objectives have not changed. Scan or secure the signal source and any examples of technology you can find. Do not interfere with the Reaver agent you've spotted or anyone else you see. If the Reavers are after the signal source, ask to scan it before they take it. Hopefully they'll agree. If not, then scrub the primary and move onto secondary." "Copy, Admiral," Jaxamar replied, stowing his rifle. He didn't bother trying to be quiet, so the rifle clattered as it magnetized to the contact points.
"Need a hand getting down?" he asked the Reaver, his hand held out in a gesture of peace, "No need to panic; I'm not going to interfere with your mission. Stand back for a second..."
He reached up to his helmet, and cycled throughhis false-colour filters, searching for any possible traps.
From up high in geo-synchronous orbit the OSSV "Hyakaryu" watched the movements of it's single agent, Adyin Kirrale, designation; AK-09/83, strategic reconnaissance as he meandered about the crater, taking samples of unkown material, metal and silicite as well as any biological samples he might've come across, receiving his first message burst readily.
~"Safe arrival achieved, no detection noted, no old power units visibly present aside from Shock-Jumpers, proceeeee!!... #/%#/"#Addendum, hit a physical snag, appears an unknown old world power has descended into the crate via rapelling system. Databanks suggest heavy possibility of the species designated as "Reavers" being present, though given nature of technological analysis highly unlikely that they would use a cloaked rapelling system, possibly a new power encounter... investigation shall commence incognito upon reaching the base of the crater. Reconnaissance 5 first report."~
They had barely begun analyzing the message before something disturbing happened.
~"Unknown vessel detected! Alert! Alert! Ichor detected! Alert! Alert! Ichor detected! Alert, possible Infestor origins! Alert!"~ the alarm, not a klaxon or for that matter a sound in cyberspace was more like a universal display with everything turning bright, bright red. On all the secondary holo-optic monitoring "windows" the image of a skull with black liquid consuming it would appear, an animated alarm symbol portraying Ichor created by an Altinian programmer over 200 years earlier. The intelligence responsible for sensor operations and navigation was in panic as were most of the other intelligences inside the Hyakaryu's network.
However, to organics on the outside of the Hyakaryu's massive internal network, if they could somehow view the event, the "fear" and confusion stages the intelligences underwent, would've appeared to last no more than a milisecond.
~"Reconfigure yourselves. SensNav, acquire a detailed image of the craft, we'll risk using our sensors at above 50% capacity, it will increase the chances of the other nations becoming suspicious, they might start to wonder about the presence of a hidden vessel such as our own but we must have a clear image of this intruder."~ the command intelligence directed, unphased by the presence of the potential Infestor.
~"A-acknowledged command! Beginning strategic scanning procedures, powering primary scanner array to 50% power output!"~
The Hyakaryu's sensors powered up to slightly above or approximately 50.34% of it's complete power, enabling it sensor coverage just barely reaching the unknown, potential Infestor vessel. The strategic distance scanners revealed a vessel of completely foreign designs to those found in the ancient creator databanks. Infestor vessels were not decorated with tribal patterning and they had been recorded so as never traveling anywhere alone, but the presence of Ichor onboard was unmistakable.
~"Command?"~ the SensNav intelligence sounded in in a puzzled manner. ~"The unknown vessel does not match Infestor design parameters at all, in fact there is an unquestionable level of personification and personalization to the vessel which indicates a level of independancy and culture foreign to the recorded knowledge in the creator databanks. The "Beltreal Eventualty" may very well have been truthfully proposed, it is possible these are survivors of the Infestors, or a species infected with Ichor."~ the SensNav concluded it's report, puzzled and curious at the same time.
~"Command!"~ the combat and tactical analysis intelligence chimed into the conversation excitedly and urgently. ~"Scanners have identified one of the Orion vessels as the "Icarus Hunt". The vessel is ancient, even by creator databanks, it appears to have survied the Infestor wars and it is charging weapons! They are aimed at the unknown... wait... addendum, the Icarus Hunt is powering down it's weapons and appears to be sending a small-class messenging vessel to make contact."~ the ComTac intelligence finished, relatively perturbed by this turn of events.
~"Observe for the time being."~ the command intelligence sounded calmly. ~"Fools jump to hasty, premature conclusions without sufficient evidence. It is entirely possible these Ichor infested entities are not hostile to us, the "Vat Mother" the ancient databanks describe as the leader of the Infestors is not present within this galaxy, they may not be controlled by her at all.
~"Command, faster-than-light signatures detected, multiples low-atmospheric exit!"~ the SensNav intelligence indicated, bringing it's sensors focus to the newly arrived craft... only to be greatly perturbed by what the sensors told him, albiet less so than the incident with the Ichor infested vessel. ~"Command, vessels bearing similarities to IoS standards have appeared... broadform transmission intercepted, translating... Reavers confirmed, detachment of Reaver armada.~"
All was silent aboard the Hyakaryu for a while afterwards, Reavers had never been particularly loved by the Altinians, largely due to their necessity to steal and sell any and all relevant information for the sake of "survival".
~"Remain vigiliant."~ the command intelligence spoke sofly. ~"We have no qualms with the Imperium of Shadows, it is highly unlikely they are even aware of our existence."~
~"I concur."~ ComTac sounded in. ~"Reavers are not all-knowing entities, they are biological beings with excellent skill at intelligence acquisition. If they have indeed been reclusive these past 200 years it is unlikely they have been actively observing other old powers develop, much less our own."~ this seemed to settle the intelligences somewhat, though exactly how much was as of yet unknown.
The situation was hazardous to say the least, less than 12 hours since the Hyakaryu's arrival more and more unknowns had appeared in orbit around the planet, Galcian 6 had become a veritable thermic spot with no less than three, count them three confirmed Old Power nations having reered their heads. Thankfully due to advanced sensor technology the Hyakaryu was able to make out much of what was ocurring on the planet surface in high-definition detail, but the situation was getting ever more precarious. The vessels primary guiding intelligences as well as the numerous other intelligences making up the base to advanced functions of the ship worrying fervently, for their chances of discovery were greatly increased with so many nations present at once. To remain any longer than was necessary was utter foolhardyness... And Ovarians were not foolish.
~"Three Old Power contacts idnetified; Draconian, OGE and SRC. Theorized technological progression shows limited accuracy, likely due to racial re-alignment events. Directives command?"~ the second intelligence inquired, while fascinated by the concept of seeing actual, real live members of the Old Powers, the ever increasing risk of discovery was clearly audible in it's vocal pattern.
~"Maintain zero-interaction directive for the time being."~ came the swift, calm response of the primary intelligence. ~"There has been no definitive need to establish contact with them as of yet. We must maintain our quiet presence for as long as we can, risking discovery at such an early stage would be a dangerous proposition if ever there was one."~ it stated.
Meanwhile planetside:
Adyin had spent a few minutes walking around the massive expanse of the crater, detection shielded of course. There were a lot of new arrivals, including several signatures matching Old Power nations. This was not good, his chances of remaining undetected went down a considerable percentage with each new addition to the admittably spacious crater... Deciding on evasive actions for now he proceeded towards the glowing sludge... figuring it might be of some use for studying but knew better than to try and take an actual example, lest it be even remotely related to Ichor.
~"Internal memoir log 1. Acquiring sample of strange bluish "sludge" material via remote-analysis."~ with that one of his drones flew over the material and began a thorough scan, compiling it into a file for later viewing since he knew he had to keep moving, Adyin checked his current coordinates, re-aligning his direction he took off in the direction of the signal, arriving less than ten minutes later at what appeared to be a large corridor, heavily damaged... And there were two humanoids in front...
Initiating his actin drivers he moved without so much as sound-waves emitting from his padded feet hitting the ground he moved carefully into a large alcove nearby, observing the apparent Reaver, compiling another message burst, but belaying it as he took notice of the sliced door... the damage was recent, the Reaver or the other were heavily armed. He decided to remain still for a while, observing them, he needed them gone before he could proceed, or at least... he could follow them down when they themselves decided to move.
It took a few moments as the translator program ran the confirmation before the image of Captain Ishi appeared on the screen. his mirriored visor observing the bridge of the new ship, a tactical analysis, and his visor alone folded away revealing the glossy black wolf fur of his Tangarian breeding, his eyes immediately locking onto the female speaker, then roving to the one that seemed to be the captain, and back to her. her attire didn't match the rest of the ships crew, let alone some type of uniform, more along the appearance of dress garbs. he Addressed her
"Good evening, Speaker for the Enlightened" he inclined his head ever so slightly, his voice smooth and calm "We recognise you as being of other origin than commonwealth." behind the Salarian ships, the great mass of the Orion victory class Icarus Hunt's power signatures dropped, as the cannons charge disipated "You've been granted a level of clearance to proceed...but the Admiral has requested that we inquire about your intentions before allowing you to do so. A transport will be dispatched if you should prefer a face to face meeting instead"
______
Commander, The observers voice slipped into his head Multiple contacts to the left of your position. unknown count. Five or less by my esitmate an image in the direction appeared in Boss's HUD, flicks of movement appearing here and there, barely visible even to the Salarians enhanced senses
"Any threat?" he asked in return, throwing a signal to the others, who vanished among the ruins, leaving him alone in the center following the Draconian.
The HUD flashed, and isolated possible weapons outlines among the movement Threat is......moderate. Caution is advised and encouraged, contact only as it becomes necessary The observer trotted up beside him, matching the Salarians pace perfectly
"Got it, keep an eye on them for me" The Observer nodded, slowing his pace up and vanishing as well among the rubble. The Salarian known as Boss, slowed his pace as well as he approched the entrance to the tunnel the Draconian had proceeded down through till he was at a standstill just outside it. his head tilted this way and that, even going as far as to turn in his step while he preformed a full sensor sweep of the nearby area. "Jazz" the female seemed to materialize from the rubble and vanished into the tunnel as Boss dropped to a knee with his rifle to his shoulder facing away from the tunnel. her status light flicked green and off. "Scorch, yer next" a good sized chunk of rubble went rolling down the side of the crater as he stood up, his cover rolling off his back like sand, and lumbering through the entrance, clearly in no hurry as he shouldered his rifle and pulled what appeared to be a long length of rope from a seemingly small niche in his armor "Rig it in case we need to make a...destructive exit" The Salarian grunts and 'twangs' the thick cord between his paws as he strides into the cavern, rigging the detcord to the ceiling once he's far enough in to be out of view of the upper levels of the crater, or any space vessel for that matter. The big Salarian trundled up behind the Crouched Boss, and tapped him on the shoulder, one-arming the Heavy Rifle variation of his BLADE "Anima, we're clear" The observer materialized almost literally beside the commander before vanishing into the darkness as well. one more sweep and Boss backed, and turned, following his team into the darkness. his team standing just out of the light cast by the sun, awaiting his command
"Sensors are picking up a voice up ahead, speech indicates the possibility of a second" Jazz stepped along side at the even pace, the largest of the three taking half the steps and keeping pace as he followed up the rear. he stopped as they came to the doorway with the perfect hole sliced into it
The hole appears to have been cut by a Reaver type weapon. The observers rattles off automatically before even being asked signatures of the cut are similar, but the model that did this is unknown. Theory; Newer reaver Tech, or new species with similar or stolen attributes. definately not Draconian. Conclusion; We are not as alone in this tunnel as we would seem to be The Observers gaze stopped, looking directly at the cloaked figure, as if able to see perfectly through that sensor proof cloak, pausing and causing Jazz to look up at the wall behind the cloaked figure, curious at what he'd seen. Then looked to Boss Risk is minimal if caution is followed. Reavers are notorious for preferring to remain on their own, and will likely leave us as such if they have no reason to do otherwise. Advice; proceed with further caution, tread carefully around the Reaver Commander
_______
"Off to the stern this time Commander, this ones actually hailing us this time" the comm officer reported to the battle worn tiger
"At least these ones have the brains to announce themselves. On screen"
"Sir, sensor anamoly" the helmsman this time "Low power wide sweep from deeper space. no source detected. possibly a cloaked ship, the readings are barely registering, and seem to be focused on the Kratian ship." his hands flew across the holoboard "No readings sir"
he waved his hand as if dismissing it "Send a pair of Salarian ship, triangulate the signal and trace it back to the source" the helmsman nodded in response and keyed in a few more commands. soon enough two Salarian ships were streaking out into the blackness, spreading out in a 'V' from the direction the Icarus Hunt was picking up the reading from, slowing as they reached the point of the signal coming from somewhere 'behind them' and stopping. their sensors throwing signals left, right, up and down, finding nothign but each other in the cross section of space that the signal 'should have' been coming from.
"Sir, they're finding nothing there, even the 'deep scanners' aren't finding anything"
a deep rumble emanated from the feline as he watched the readings on his personal holoscreen "Project a message their way, let 'em know we know they're hiding out there" he pushed himself out of the captains chair, stepping toward the forward viewscreen "No threats...not on this one...they still have the advantage of hiding from us"
The helmsman cocked an eyebrow at the oddness of the call for a 'peaceful' message, but complied and sent the approiate message in that direction
Attention Cloaked vessel. This is Commander Shirov of the Icarus Hunt, Recinarian of the Orion Galactic Empire. The message started Step forward and be identified among the Galactic powers
Buzzwolf's Signature
"...it'll keep you warm though it is a bit disgusting...it's a sheeping bag, that's what it is..." -Bear Grilles
"The real Heroes are the ones that never came back..." -unknown
"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world." -Robin Williams
The SFE fire team moves down into the crater, taking an easy descent course and free climbing down it, coming within just 50 feet of a sniper team as they pass over the rim. They continue chatting amongst themselves along the descent, unaware of the fact that they had 4 beads focused on their heads.
“So what is it you think is down there? I heard it might be a weapon.”
“The Old Ones told us they didn’t know what is down there. Hope it is a weapon we can use against our enemies. Be prepared in case it’s something they can use against us.”
They disappear into a set of side caverns.
+============+
“Tres Descent, be advised: The imperial fire team has entered the caverns. Try your best to stay ahead of them.”
Tay, following some distance behind the Draconian. Given the enclosed space, he returns his MX-01 to his back, and pulls out his GX-95. Eventually they see it stop, and start engaging in dialogue with the Perseid (Reaver). Tay records all of it. “Intelligence, you getting all this?”
“Affirmative.” He AI voice chimes back. “Deducing language functions. Insufficient data. Continue listening when you can, but do not jeopardize the mission for it. When a working translation is figured out, it will be uploaded to your suits.”
“Copy that intel.”
Tay leans against a corner, peaking around a bit. He sighs. “That’s the only way I can see into that shaft, unless we want to blast in another entrance.” He cranes his neck. “I’ll bet… we could slip by the Perseid, get onto that ledge…” His augmented reality highlights the ledge for his sisters. “And I’ll be we can rappel down most of the shaft. It’s going to be tough though. One at a time.” He looks to the ground. His suit highlights areas that are free of dust and debris, places he can walk without risking giving away his position. “hmm, good enough for that. We’ll have to go in one at a time. Adal, you’re first. Then I’ll go, then Ducy, pick up the rear.” The both send an EMF ‘nod’ to him. “We’re in tight quarters, but we’ve still got stealth. Ducy, stick to your Gaussault rifle, Adal, go to your room-sweepers. Adal holsters her GX-95, and pulls out the 2 SMGs from her back.
“Think we’ll need to use them?” Adal asks.
Tay gives an electromagnetic no. “Hopefully not. It doesn’t look like any of them brought climbing gear. We might be able to get a bit of a lead here.” He shifts his weight. “Looks like a ventilation shaft from back home… not quite as wide though. Remember that time they had us free-fall into one?”
Adal and Ducy sort of chuckle lightly. Tay smirks a bit. “Like that, but this time we have a rope.” He looks around the corner again. “Okay… Looks like about 4 Frel between the Perseid and the wall. Adal, get in there, sidle out to the ledge.”
Adal nods, and moves from around the corner. Tay and Ducy lean out, ready to defend their sister if anything should happen. Adal moves nimbly between dust free zones, sonic cancellers completely eliminating the sounds of her footfalls as well as keeping the air around her still. She gets up against the wall and smidges past the Reaver templar and onto the ledge of the shaft. “Okay, I’m on. Ledge looks secure, I can see pipes or rails that we might be able to secure to.” Tay can feel the relief emanating from her. No matter how many times you do it, trying to slip right past an enemy’s face is nerve wracking.
Tay nods. “Okay, I’ll head in next.” Tay manages the same dust free path and the same tight squeeze as Adal did. “I’m through. Ducy, you’re up.”
Ducy sends an EM ok to them, then moves along the corridor. She Moves to just behind the Reaver and frowns a bit. “Hold on, lemme ready my climbing gear. You guys do the same.” She says. She loops her shotgun to her back, then She pulls out the cord and hooks it to a carabineer She then hooks that carabineer to her grappling hook, and places that in the electromagnetic launcher on her forearm. “Okay, ready. You guys hook on, we ought to descend as soon as we can.” Tay and Adal begin to hook their gear to some pipes or similar strong points, meanwhile Ducy tried to slip past the Perseid unnoticed in the same manner as her siblings…
Meanwhile, in Orbit…
Admiral Herkolo frowns. The ships in low orbit seemed to be clamoring about the arrival of a new ship. While they couldn’t understand the signals they were receiving, they certainly tried. “Tres Descent, be advised. A bunch of the ships up here are clearly getting pretty ancy about the arrival of a new ship. We don’t know why, but they haven’t launched to the surface yet. Also, we are passing out of direct range of you, orbital Cannon support won’t be available for another 5 hours, should you need it.”
Tay responds. “Roger that, Brave 1.”
The Mirachoco ships were in a high orbit, that meant that the planet was rotating faster than they went around it. However, the recon ships they had staying on station provided telemetry of all the other detectable ships in orbit, so they wouldn’t be out of the loop, and a few gunships they had out would be able to provide some degree of support should the need arise.
Brome Teks's Signature
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"Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those that don't understand it." - Florence Ambrose
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from Science!" - Agatha Heterodyne
Kraal inclined her head in return to the Salarian, "It would be in your interest not to directly dock with this vessel. Our race shares an... intimacy with the ichor you fear and we have no desire to inspire another war through accidental infection, however we have devised a way to isolate the ichor to our own bodies, therefore, if it pleases you, I will proceed to dock indirectly for the primary purpose of this venture was, and still is, to establish relations with the Nations."
She paused, looking around the screen at the number of ships in orbit around Glacian 6, the ichor in her blood offering her a sense of tension not only toward the Kratians' arrival, but also to the fact that everyone of them seemed to want to area to themselves and were frustrated, "I am assuming that not all these vessels belong to the Orions?" she inquired softly.
Behind her, the Captain spoke in the Kratian's native language, speaking rapidly to Kraal with an irritated look. Kraal shook her head in his direction and the two fell into what seemed like a heated argument before Kraal gave a firm remark and turned back to the screen, "The captain is also curious as to why this particular system has drawn so much attention from the Nations and asks if this is to be considered hostile action," she bowed her head apologetically, "please excuse his forwardness, he is... unused to such things."
((OCC, to cut down on the number small reactionary posts me and Brome worked this out over IM and i'm posting my character's POV, he'll be posting his soon. If you want to do small combat actions like this, please do the same.))
Skilath stopped and frowned, she was rather uncomfortable by being confronted by the Draconian, though as she turned to face him, her elbow bumped into an invisible presence, rather roughly. That invisible force, it so happened, was Ducy's face.
Skilath suits reacted by registering the event as a presence and quickly estimated its route and current position. The templar of the Imperium are trained for years not only with their weapons but also their suits to gain the maximum about of experience with the systems before heading to the field. One of the benefits of this allowed them a level of control over their suits systems that allowed for them to activate many of the systems in the suit via reflex alone. If anyone was watching they would see green lights up on the Reaver's suit as she made a lighting fast spin before she moved towards the object at unfathomable speeds thanks to her overdrive system.
Forchantly for Skilath, Ducy's end shields don't act to protect her against grabs, so she was easily able to find a handhold on her armor that she could grab. However, she's already moving downwards, her momentum being shared by the both of them now. Realizing that she was falling along with the object that she was holding she swore. To prevent them from falling to their death she accessed her suits inertial control systems and expands the field to encompass not just her, but Ducy as well changing their direction of movement from downward to sideways. For those that were looking on they would see that the green lights that had activated from before had only gotten brighter as the Reaver stopped falling downward but instead moved sideways at a slightly slower rate before heading down.
They impact the wall gently as the Suit systems scream at her because of the increased stress on the system. “Suit, shut down further inertial stress warning, I’m well aware of their tolerances.” Ignoring the warnings, she increases her suit stress using it to accelerate both her and Ducy back to the main floor. Upon landing she trys to pin the object at what she thinks is the person’s throat. She puts her sword near where her hand is. In Galactic Standard she asks, "Explain your reason for being here..." The voice is quite, and clam if alien. As this happens the lights on the Reavers suit disengage.
Half a second after asking the question she feels a force impact the side of her head, as it pushs her off the object, her overdrive and inertial compensation systems kick in prevent her from taking a lethal amount of head truma from the impact but it does send her reeling, though she recovers quickly and gracefully. “Right I’m outnumbered, and dealing with stealth capable unknowns. Let see how good their stealth is…” She pulls one of her mircoexplosives from her suit and in one blurred motion throws it to where they were last known to be, she was hoping to use the overpressure wave to detect a temporary ripple in there cloaks, even then it wasn't a guarantee.
When it neared them, it exploded. For a brief second her suit detected a spike in the UV spectrum, she was also able to visibly see it as it was within her spectrum of vision in the near UV area. Using that, she was able to predict where she thought the one that kicked her in the head was in relation to where she was. She still had her sword and hand and bolted across the floor before running up the wall and using it as a spring board swinging her activated sword in the air where the target was supposed to be. And she cut…nothing, “Guess the estimations where off.” She said to herself, unknown to her, she was unaware of the fact that she missed her targets head by a fraction of an inch. A moment later she landed and the lights disengaged….
((The previous actions, from my character's perspectives.))
Adal and Tay watch, holding their breath, as Ducy tries to slip past the alien. As luck would have it, the alien chooses that moment to turn around to face the draconian. Ducy tries to get out of the way, but there’s not enough space, and she gets elbowed in the faceplate. She begins to fall over the edge, but instead the reaver grabs her. Tay and Adal gasp, and Adal loads up her grappling hook into her arm’s launcher while Tay puts a bead on the reaver’s head. He refrains from firing though, as he can see that somehow the reaver is falling towards the wall and taking Ducy with it.
Ducy grasps the reavers arm with one hand, and her other tries to reach to her back and grab her shotgun. As she’s doing that, the reaver takes the both of them up to the main level and pulls out her sword to Ducy’s throat. The reaver says something the Mirachoco can’t understand. (Being new to the area, they don’t know galactic standard.) Ducy instead reaches down and pulls out her PI-KE pistol and points it right between the reaver’s eyes.
It is at that moment that Adal fires her grappling hook, attaching it to a fixture above them, and swings over to the opening in the wall, focusing all of her kinetic energy into one boot to the head for the reaver. “Come on!” She urges Ducy as she grabs on and swings back just as the reaver uses the micro explosive, causing their shields to shimmer just the tiniest amount. The reaver swings her blade but just barely misses. As Adal swings across the shaft, Tay hurls an EMP grenade into the door. Those in there would hear something clink against the wall then to the ground. A fraction of a second before it goes off, the micro cloak wears off and they can see the bluish grenade shaped device just before it activates, sending a strong EMP into the hall.
As Adal reaches the other side, she grabs a hold of Tay’s hand as her momentum wears out, and then swings Ducy onto the ledge. “Ducy, no time to attach another line, hook onto me.” He urges as he helps Adal back onto the ledge. Ducy just nods and pulls out her climbing gear, attaching herself to a hard point on Tay’s armor while Adal remote releases her grappling hook and reels it in, attaching her line back to the carabineer. Once she’s on, Tay says. “Let’s go!” The 3 of them begin to descend down the shaft at the highest speed they safely can.
Brome Teks's Signature
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"Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those that don't understand it." - Florence Ambrose
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from Science!" - Agatha Heterodyne
Jaxamar ran to the edge, before taking off and sliding sideways around the shaft.
"Admiral, unknowns have engaged the Reaver," he shouted into his COM line, "Orders?" "Say what? Who?"
"I don't know, Sir; they're cloaked!" "Stay out of it, then!"
"Copy, I-."
The grenade happened to go off at that moment, and a blast of static, right into his ear at full volume, caused Jax to yelp, jolting sideways so violently that he lost control and slammed into a wall. To avoid falling, he grabbed hold of a light fixture that happened to be there, taking off again before it could fail. "Sergeant!"
"I'm fine; it was EMP grenade. Beginning descent. Be advised; I may drop out of contact; this shaft looks like it goes down a full ten clicks."
With that, he cut power to his thrusters by a quarter, descending down the shaft far faster than the Mirachoco with their more conventional method, but still slow enough that he could stop instantly if he bumped into trouble.
As he passed where he suspected that the aliens were, he casually said, "Don't go dropping a grenade on me, all right? I really don't want to find out what it feels like to hit the ground at terminal velocity."
(Note, thus far, he's descended less than 100 metres; he's taking it slow)
~"Command? OGE activity detected, small-scale vessels deployed on recocnizable search and identify flight path, appears they have detected our low-power sensor sweep, situational asessment precarious, directives?"~ the SensNav intelligence inquired in an urgent tone of voice, their discovery was potentially imminent.
~"Cease all long-range sensor sweeps, commence evasive tactic; Oseren Manoeuvre"~ the Command intelligence sounded not long after. The Oseren Manoeuvre was an old tactic from back during the Infestor war, where an Altinian captain named Kartelis Oseren had eluded Infestor detection for over 200 hours.
~"Acknowledged command! Initiating 150° ion thruster burst."~ SensNav stated as the Hyakaryu accelerated ions into space to turn quietly yet not so quickly as to require massive ammounts of ionic emissions, those could be detected."~
~"ECM drones deployed, setting for randevouz near the far side of the planet once OGE search has been hampered, taking us into lower orbit."~ the SensNav intelligence continued enthusiastically as the Hyakaryu's non-heat emitting thrusters altered it's heading and took it into lower orbit while five ECM drones deployed behind it.
Powering up their electronic countermeasures they began low-profile sweeps which weren't done using sensors, but rather through subtle sub-space interferance ment to prevent the incoming OGE ships from being able to pin-point any of the detection shielded drones and confuse them for quite a while, setting up in such a manner that the signals would bounce between them the moment the OGE vessels locked on to one potential location, making it seem as if though a gargantuan sensor field had them smack in the middle of it with them unable to pin-point any definite source.
Once the Hyakaryu was out of range the drones de-activated their ECM systems and departed silently, stealthily for the Hyakaryu's drone bay, leaving the OGE guessing as to what exactly it was that was hiding out there, at least for a little while longer.
~"Command, transmission detected, broadform, directed at us it would appear. They state that they know of our presence and wish that we reveal ourselves to the galactic powers."~ the SensNav intelligence reported, naturally it was a little perturbed by this sudden and undesired series of events.
The Command intelligence remained quiet for a while, despite having eluded the OGE vessels their presence was now an apparent suspicion for the OGE, weather or not the other vessels present had too been alerted to their quiet presence was undetermined as of yet and despite their efforts the OGE hadn't detected them, thus would be unaware of what they were, thus their request would for the time being go unanswered.
~"We shall remain hidden for a while longer, unless the situation calls for it we will neither respond for they might trace the signal, nor will we disengage our detection shielding. We cannot afford to as of yet, however alert Reconnaissance to take especial care not to be revealed, if his presence becomes known ours will be as well.~" Command concluded with a weary tone to it's voice, things had developed in unexpected directions much faster than it would have liked it to...
~"Acknowledged Command, compiling quantum signal burst to Reconnaissance now...~"
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Meanwhile, down below in the broken, twisted and damaged, tunnel in the crater upon the planets surface:
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~"Incoming message... "~ Adyins internal notification software alerted him, he remained still as a statue, his limbs not so much as twitching, a stillness that would be unnerving if anyone could observe him.
~"Risk of detection has been elevated from tertiary percentages to secondary percentages, our low-power sensor sweep was detected by orbiting OGE vessels and they attempted to gleam our location using a binary search and identify vessel tactic, we have evaded and clouded their sensors for now. Advise particular caution, chance discovery reveals our presence to the galactic powers, no undue events or risks lest the situation be unavoidable, Command out."~
Adyin mentally sighed, things were going down the pipeworks faster than anticipated. His Holo-drones had been quietly observing the people near the doorway, the Reaver was of particular interest to him and he noted several physiological oddities as Reavers of old weren't particularly fond of being seen all that often. Then the commotion ocurred, the Reaver grabbing a hold of something that Adyin, in a sudden surprised bout of hypothetical situational analysis determined had to be another cloaked entity, no Reaver would trip over their own feet so easily.
Spying the opening he needed he called upon his holo-drones to re-integrate themselves onto his right shoulder, as they did he made his physical profile as small as he could make it and quickly made his way past the probably bewildered Draconian armour unit, spying the Reaver's glowing green suit-LED's with his telescopic eyes he quickly dropped into the shaft, using his thrusters to manouevre himself onto the edge and his gravity manipulator to slow his advance, nearing the ledge he grabbed a hold with a mechanical, vice-like grip to keep himself steady, all along witnessing the Reavers seemingly invisible battle, as it could apparently neither see nor hear it's foes...
~"How incredibly ironic that one of the greatest old powers of stealth and secracy cannot detect other stealthed units making a play for them."~ A funny thought ocurred to him, could they also not spot their own detection shielded operatives? That could prove problematic in any number of way. Standing up on the ledge he sensor-pinged the hall with a small-scale sensor sweep, it was possible the others if they had capable sensors in their suits to detect the small low-power sweep, but it was of any particular concern to him. The massive, probably over 4 mile drop and the great expanse of what he presumed might have been some form of elevation or ventillation or perhaps even water shaft would bounce the signal off its walls far too much to get a definitive, pin-point reading.
~"Nowhere to go but down..."~ silently thanking his systems, he decided to wait, what was happening over near the Reaver was a little too interesting to miss and he recorded every last minute of it.
Multiple contacts Commander the voice reverberated in his head Small explosive pressure wave. five pressure signatures detected Boss nodded, and they each had their rifles up, and in their shoulder as they approached the edge of the tube. the rifle tips swung around the cavern and Jazz crouched by the side, looking over
"I got 'em. about...three...maybe four hundred meters down. Five max." distance and speed calculations ran across the face of her HUD. "Decent is Constant"
Animas ears perked up Sensor ping detected Commander, source...unknown. the signal has rebounded too many times to pin down. Dissimilar to previous signals. possible sixth contact Boss nodded
"We go down dark then. Anima, you're the comm HUD. Maintain contact with each of us and relay as needed" the felionoid bowed his head in a nod "Scorch, Jazz, Circle wide around the tube, go down there, and there" he pointed, marking two distant marks on the tube with his HUD. "No suprises" they nodded and Dashed off, virtually vanishing from his sensors as their systems went into 'dark' mode. no sensor emissions in, or out. not even the EM feilds generated by the augments detectable as the dimensional layer absorbed it and every other emission along with even thermal signatures. the only thing that might see them, would be motion sensors or naked eye detection. but with their sensor absorbant plating and dark coloring, even those would have trouble. otherwise, they looked like moving statues to sensors for all the readings they gave off.
Squad reports they are in position commander Anima broke the silence of his head. a hand signal and the felionoid gave the 'all clear to proceed'. he could only assume the others had leapt from the edge as he stood there, looking over into the darkness before leaping off the side himself, his suit orienting his personal gravity as his feet connected with the wall, the opposite side of the tube suddenly becoming 'up' for him as he took off at a sprint down teh tube, staying just distant of the others falling at their controlled speeds, dashing along completely silent through the darkness
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The huge paw of the commander smashed down on the arm of his command chair "Dammit! Find them!" the Salarians had reported mere moments ago that the sensor ping had been a decoy, letting the ship itself slip away silently "I want a grid by fucking grid sweep if we have to!" Two more of the many smaller Salarian ships shot away from the protection of the massive for of the Icarus Hunt to join their sister ships in the Hunt
______
"The Orions fear nothing, Speaker" his face held perfectly strait as he spoke "Not even the Ichor" if not for the fact that it was a first contact, the Salarian might've seemed almost insulted by the assumption that they feared anything. "Only the grand Icarus Hunt and the Salarian ships belong to the Orion Galactic Empire." the Tigerfox paused momentarily, deciding if revealing the purpose of the visit was admisable "there is a signal eminating from the planet. can your sensors not detect it?" The tigerfox paused again "If there were warfare to break out in this place...the very space here would feel the effects for generations. starting something is...not advisable. Proceed with docking as you see fit, Speaker" the connection winked off, leaving the Salarian ship floating on the screen in the darkness.
Buzzwolf's Signature
"...it'll keep you warm though it is a bit disgusting...it's a sheeping bag, that's what it is..." -Bear Grilles
"The real Heroes are the ones that never came back..." -unknown
"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world." -Robin Williams
The small Cahabīn vessel arrived on the scene and stopped several thousand meters away from the crater. The crew were stunned into silence by the mass of ships that they could see around them, massively varying in size and design. New messages were being received almost constantly, and the translator was struggling to keep up with them all. Rough versions of the messages were being copied out by the machine, while it worked on more accurate translations to replace them when complete.
One message in particular was worrying the crew. It said, in the native Cahabīn tongue; "To listen every god/demon vessels. Under this world sleeps a threat to the all galaxy. Do not interfere with our strains to remove weaponry it. Any strains to make fail us will be make war. This is for the benefit of the we/you/god/demons"
Based on that message alone, Gene was arguing for a return to the main fleet and then a total bombardment of the planet and all forces present. Urgol had to admit that there was merit to this idea, but there was no way of telling whether these ships represented much larger forces. Also, with the various races present, it was possible that some could become allies. Then the DWB would increase in power and complete their crusade much sooner than expected. New allies would also make for excellent fodder for testing the defences of new enemies.
"We'll make it a point not to contact that cluster of ships there" Urgol said, pointing to the 7 SFE ships "No need to alert them to our intentions, eh? As for the others... I would assume they represent different races?"
Gene growled slightly "They all arrived at about the same time. That implies that they're allies"
Shara rolled her eyes "They're all using completely different technologies. That implies that they're not"
"Command know what to do if we don't return to the fleet," Urgol interrupted, before an argument could break out once again among his crew of two "We'll try our luck by contacting one of the ships, and if we get blasted then so do they"
"They'll have a few days to move out" Gene reminded him. Urgol laughed.
"Gene, we've spent 200 years hunting down the Great Enemy, I think we can spare a few ridding this galaxy of a new one, no matter where they hide"
Gene grunted in agreement. Urgol scanned the alien ships for a starting point, and soon spotted a second cluster that he took a liking to. It was, although he had no idea, the Draconian fleet.
"Send them the following message," he said, before dictating the following "We are the Disciples of the Water Bringers. Have you respect for our gods, or are you host to demons? Reply or be judged. End message"
Tchier stood quickly and opened his door to allow in the Captain. He has quickly learnt their language, and used it in reply, although he still held a heavy accent which betrayed, almost as much as his appearance, that he was an outsider. Inside the room, the Captain would find no belongings, property or decoration bar a single pack of basic clothes and various currencies. Tchier's pistol was at his side, but strapped in place, and not open to a sudden draw. If Tchier were to try and shoot him or his guards, they could react before the gun was even unholstered.
"Greetings Captain. To what do I owe this pleasure? I hope that there has been no reconsideration of my position here?"
SliceOfDog's Signature
Director Scififur.net
XAP Co-ordinator - In particular Uplink Lambda
The Carrier ship waits a moment before responding. What was happening was the ship AI was cross checking the signature of the ship against the intelligence they had about Species operating in this area of the galaxy, which was admittedly pretty sparse. After that moment has passed, it has found no results, so decides the best way to get these answers is by simply asking.
The response comes in the same manner they were asked. "'Disciples of Water bringers', 'Gods', and 'Demons' are undefined variables. Please specify or describe. Protocol for data packet compression follows." After that, there's a good deal of alternating analogue and digital signal bursts from the SFE carrier. The protocol offered no information on their internal security systems, but the Ship AI played it safe and readies its firewalls anyways.
Brome Teks's Signature
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"Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those that don't understand it." - Florence Ambrose
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from Science!" - Agatha Heterodyne
Since it was the Cahabins' native language, the Draconians had no translation; the Legions had never encountered this species before.
"Open a reply channel," the Admiral ordered, frowning, "Send this message via simple binary audio; We are the Free Legions Service naval vessel Freedom, under the command of Admiral Arzan Firewing. We have recieved your transmission, but were unable to translate it. Please continue dialogue so our linguistics programs may decode your language so we may speak to you."
"Aye, sir."
A simple, unencrypted, but tightbeam transmission was beamed to the DWB ship containing that same message. It wouldn't require anything more than a simple crystal radio receiver to hear it, but one would have to be insanely lucky to intercept it unintentionally.
Jaxamar continued to descend, his thrusters whining as they worked. He hit the 450 metre mark, and continued...
"Cute," The captain piped up from behind Kraal, "they intend to make us feel inferior." He touched the tips of his fingers together, letting out a long, slow breath as his eyes darted around, looking at the ships in orbit. Kraal closed her eyes, centering herself before turning toward the captain, "It would be advisable not to cause any further disruptions to what they're doing captain. Victory or defeat aside, earning their ire is not what we're here to do," she held up a hand, stalling the captain's retaliation, "I understand that this ship and everyone aboard are under your command captain, save me, so you will do as you will regardless of what I say."
They stared at each other, Kraal indifferently and the captain angrily. The elderly Kratian waved his hand, dismissing her, and Kraal offered a forced curtsy before exiting the bridge behind him. The elevator ride down to the airlock consisted of Kraal going over everything she could find about the Orions and debating what she would say. The two guards on duty at the airlock jumped up as the elevator slid open, bowing to her quietly after they saw who it was, opening the inner airlock on her command.
Within were a large amount of lockers, one for each crew member likely to leave the ship on an ichorless world. Kraal moved to hers, removing her robes and stashing them in a large pack within the locker before pulling out her exo-suit. It fitted her form snugly as she pulled the main piece over her skin and began attaching the extremities to the main system. The helmet slid over her head and after a soft hiss, she experienced the ichor's irritation at being "contained."
She pushed the feeling away, signalling the guards to close the inner door and open the outer. The atmosphere raced out of the ship as the door opened into the oblivion of space. Leaning out, she held tightly to the safety bar just outside the airlock, aligning herself to face the waiting Orion ship before launching herself through space. Time had no meaning in the zero gravity and Kraal looked at the various ships without the ship between them.
Catching the side of the ship, Kraal waited for the Salarians to open the door...
The Delivery Gator and sometimes a Silent Assassin
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Join Date
Jun 2010
Location
Where I live.
Posts
173
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Re: Forbidden Worlds (RP)
**SRC Post**
*On the Hi'lendar...
Aro'baal chuckles shaking his head, "Naw... just a conference, nothing more." The two guards step in, taking positions on either side of the door. Aro'baal would pull up a chair, "I just need to ask you a few things... like what you are, where your from, what 'er you doing... just that sort of thing. And as the turn of info for info goes, I'll answer a few of your questions as well." He'd be very polite!
*On the Damo'cle...
Gan'ro snarls at them, "I run a clean and near perfect ship! If anyone of you tries to pull anything then I'll gut you where you stand!" The crew was obviously frightened of this man and if he continued this they'd be very likely to mutiny...
*On the Swiffer...
Jenks rubs his temples and looks about, "Comm? Get me a channel to the Orions... they are the only reasonable folks we can depend on for the moment... and please don't make an ass of me and drop the line like last time..." There were some embarrassed chuckles.
**Josha whistles lowly as he goes along his way... just another mission to him and he had plenty of confidence to show! He was though... unaware of the Reaver that was just ahead of him.
**CotD Post**
*On the super-light-corvette...
Fen'dar should appear on the Orion's screen, "Sorry about that! This is Captain Ana Fen'dar of the CotD... a separation from the Extremely hateful and fairly racist SRC... we are seeking a sort of sanctuary from our current enemy for they have been known to go out of their way to kill my people as well as destroy their ships. This is not a war vessel and what weapons it does have really can't even damage a light fighter... or in this case, scuff the paint on your great and magnificent ships. We'll gladly come out of cloak, but only if you agree not to fire upon us... since we already have some or rather dis-tasteful people that'd do it gladly for you."
**Dal'sa doesn't start getting closer she is sure there aren't any more explosions... then she gets closer to the Reaver, verily amazed by her, "Excuse me? Miss Reaver? Think you can ah... lend me some assistance? I'm being tailed by a rather distasteful person and am afraid for my life."
Forbidden Worlds (RP)
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on their screens as a show of affection for being back in active mode, and for their master unit being physically active again.
