ShopDreamUp AI ArtDreamUp
Deviation Actions
Beginnings of the Future Part 4:
Union High command Orbital: Mirach system: Union space
Drogan turned towards Hargun and replied.
"Thank you Hargun. I am confident that my lord's empire might be able to aid in this since many situations have been solved in our territory of this region of the Ancerious galaxy." As Drogan spoke, General Templar simply watched what was happening.
Counsellor Rowan looks over her note takers notes so far. The conference was recorded of course by one of her two helpers, but one of them took short compressed notes on paper about the varying factions, their reps, and standpoints. She frowns seeing the two page summary on the Emerald Sword as the Immortal Empire’s representative seemed to be called. She hands the papers back with a sigh and re crossed her arms looking at them all.
"Oh? You all were unaware of the attempt to kill two birds with one stone?” She had a strangely amused look on her snout as she spoke.
“That’s right, someone tried to commit genocide unlike, as far as I know, anything in the record of history itself. As it could have even spread to elsewhere other then the target it was aimed at. And it could be attempted on any one of you... "she then looks around the room with a rather stern like expression.
"So if I were you, if you all have not done so already," she warns as she looks directly at the Emerald Sword agent, while speaking to the others. "Construct the most advanced array of sensors you can and always keep an eye out for such a cowardly attempt. For that is simply what it is, pathetic attempts at declaring it logic aside."
Rowan then withdrew herself from the conversation and talks in hushed whispers to the recorder.
Lydia nodded in approval at the DHR comment on the Immortal Empires’ cold logic, and smiled towards Counsellor Rowan. Hargun on the other hand was more reserved about it however but still slightly nodded in agreement trying to conceal his agreement of it all.
"That is an understatement, as you can see in the evidence two of the object trajectories would have landed near coalition space. The coalition trades all over the galaxy, all it would have taken was a few of their freighters to get infected...and then it's in everyone’s back yard and eventually even your own. Now I find it hard to believe with your 'predictive abilities' you are so proud of...that you failed to predict how blind this attack was. So I ask you again, what is your explanation for such incredible stupidity?"
Laramar spoke up after the DHR comment. "As terrible as these attacks are and could have been, I think your underestimate the genocidal capabilities of other races in this galaxy."
Pham sit up in his chair listening intently to the conversations that had begun to break out between the representatives, bowing his head and sighing slightly in disappointment as they began to deviate from the topic at hand. Presently he stood, waiting for the other arguments to die down before speaking.
"I would like to restate Xtophers question, in regards to the briefcase recovered in Exceion. I believe that the Union is aware of it for the reason that it was a Union Security team that aided in its recovery. Despite the severity of this… utterly cowardly and increasingly logic less movement of infection you attempted. I will ask again, what is in the briefcase?" he said, making as good eye contact with the Emerald swords masked face as he could.
"I agree, that is a important question to ask of the Immoral Empire, what is in the case? I do think coming clean now may help your position in the eyes of the galaxy as a whole somewhat."
It is important to consider just how odd this question was for the Emerald Sword. After all, a war was raging, and in his eyes these diplomats were more interested in interrogating (admittedly in a more civil way than most interrogations were want to go) the Emerald Sword for information than actually discussing diplomacy.
Hargun was noted suddenly by a quiet bleeping in his ear, he turned to look away and recieved the communication. It was short, just a notification of some more guests arriving, due to their nature of long range travel it made sense of their late arrival. Either way it would be good to have them "Everyone I have a small notification, the representatives of the Ostech Combine will be joining us shortly. Anyway continue."
Xtopher looked up at the mention of the arrival of the representatives.
"The Ostech combine..." He mused curiously, before looking over the other representatives in the chamber. Looking at the delegates of the Mars Empire where they sat.
"Long distances, right... " He said to himself, before turning his attention back towards the Emerald Sword, aware of the Stromian representative as it read over the files stored in the data stick it received. Whispering quietly to the Male Raudonah and the Lahthanian over particular details of the SSCs report.
Alex and Jay both remain silent, Jay listening attentively and Alex's mind wandering to the woman who had convinced him to come to this meeting, the representative for the union, as he plays a card game not unlike solitaire with his nano-implant, in his head, trusting the recording of his memories and Jay's fastidiousness to ensure anything important was remembered.
The Emerald Sword raised his hand calling for silence so that he might talk uncontested. “Alright, I’ll enlighten you. First, let me have one of those. I wish to know exactly what you’re going on about.”
As the Emerald Sword waited for a data rod to be handed to him, he turned to address Hargun.
“Why are you surprised that I rejected peace with Tenebrae? Are you so unaccustomed to being told ‘no?’ I have stated, repeatedly I might add, why we are at war with Tenebrae. That you would even suggest such a course of action means that you either only heard what you wanted from me, or chose to ignore what I said entirely. Or you're completely naive.”
The Emerald Sword took the data rod, and staring at it, turned it a few times over in his hand. “Oh, those. I rather liked those. I thought they were clever. Long story short, we found something, it infected our ships, we captured it, we studied it, we weaponized it. And then, the SSC declared war on us. Seeing as how we are busy enough as is with Tenebrae, Capitol, and Carnaith, the best course of action was to give the SSC something to worry about away from the fighting. And again, the damage that would have been done has been exaggerated. It is hardly genocidal in nature. It is meant to keep them busy. And do you really think that we would risk the involvement of a race that wasn’t our intended target?”
Here was an example of a miscommunication: for an empire as thick in the skin, as indomitable really, as the Immortal Empire, this weapon was just that: something meant to keep people busy. They had, after all, grown to twice the size of most other factions with the acquisition of the Cerebian territories; and with their uncanny luck (both uncanny and luck being slightly erroneous here) with finding rich solar systems to colonize, they simply looked at things on a different scale than the rest. What was potentially apocalyptic in the eyes of the other attendees of the conference was merely a diversion to the Emerald Sword.
The Emerald Sword turns to the Tenebrae delegation as he continues, “As for what’s inside the briefcases. It’s a surprise. Now, do remember that we started this war trying to keep civilian deaths to an absolute minimum, both ours and yours. Thanks to your actions in the Ambrosius system however, we no longer have any such qualms.”
Hargun’s eye twitched and he spun to the side to stop Lydia as she began to spew insults. She stopped with her mouth open and merely stood staring at the IE rep, she slowly sat down and kept her eyes firmly fixed. Hargun sat back down.
"No, we are not ‘customed to people saying no. But then again those are races with some sort of intelligence" Hargun let the insult slip, he had invited them here to put across their side. And all he was getting was illogical nonsense and excuses for potential genocide and unwanted war.
War unwanted by the Union, anyway.
"If the races you deal with are usually intelligent then how do you cope? I said the Immortal Empire wouldn't be seeking peace until certain conditions are met. You didn't even try to find out what conditions those were. Instead you focus on the refusal." There was certainly a degree of antagonism to the Emerald Sword’s words, though in sincerity the idea was an honest one; intended as a direct comment on the strange direction of the negotiations. For as undiplomatic as the Emerald Sword’s words were, this was more on account of conditioning than malice; his efforts here were sincere.
"Then tell me what are those conditions exactly?” Hargun replied evenly. “We have offered a cease fire to you. Surely that should be good enough."
Inside of his helmet, the Emerald Sword’s mouth opened as he prepared to respond, but the representative from the Tenebraens rapped his palms onto the large wooden table.
Xtopher put his hands on the table in front of him, now quite tired of the nonsense and the attempts to mislead the assembled groups there. Opening his jaws to speak.
"You claim strength, and you claim tests. But you are not the only race capable of them. Ambrosious was no simple attack, as it benefited you, so too did it us. Even more then it did you it seems from what the Tenebrean empire received from it and its aftermath... We stuck a sword in your side, but it was laced... So Tell me, Child. How long has your race been in contact with the Flux?"
Hargun immediately looked at Xtopher, with a look of mixed fear and surprise.
"It's not "your" conditions…it would be theirs wouldn’t it?" He said, turning to look up at Hargun, a look of crystal calmness on his skull. When he spoke, his voice was calm, but disappointment was clear in it.
"I didn’t want to believe it a first, but after information we received from the Altman incident, well... It all began to fall into place. Temporal radiation signatures from reviews of Exceion, ships blowing up despite not being near any Immortal Empire ships at the time... old documents from the Nightside war."
The doors opened, and in walked two beings quite alien in appearance even to each other. Both were reptilian and wearing metallic outfits, but one was quite short, barely four feet in height. His wardrobe, such as it was, was quite thick and covered much of his body; servos and hydraulics at each of the joints indicated it was an exosuit more for function than fashion. He resembled a crocodile, though his long head and thick tail were all that showed of it. His mud-colored hide, however, had not a single scale but was instead soft and moist, in fact almost slimy.
The other was entirely alien in comparison - thin, elegant and six feet tall. Her outfit needed no motorized joints to help with movement as the other's did, and was instead an elegant series of metallic strips wrapping around her body. The metallic aqua outfit complimented her rich sapphire-colored scales, themselves enhanced with swirling deep-lavender-colored patterns which swept around her body. Perched on her left shoulder was a small creature, practically unnoticed at first. It resembled a hairless rodent, and at just under a foot tall it seemed unremarkable. Aside from the mechanical prosthetics that had replaced both of its left feet, right eye, part of its jaw and half of its tail, and indicated it did indeed come from the Combine.
For the two people had come from the Ostech Combine, as well. The crocodilian representative was smiling upon entry, whereas the other showed no apparent interest. When the two had penetrated the room so far as to be sure they were all visible, the pair stopped. The shorter representative, a Kalhare, then bowed. "I take it that we've arrived in time to join the party?" a light, synthesized voice crowed. The Kalhare made something of an "Oh" sound, and the voice added, "My, my, aren't we in a foul mood today?"
"Can you blame them, considering the circumstances?" The elegant woman asked.
The Kalhare sighed, though it was overpowered by the synthetic voice as it said, "No, my dear, I don't suppose I can." As the Kalhare beamed again, the voice continued, "It is with great honor that we represent the Ostech Combine today. My name," the voice said as the Kalhare placed a four-fingered hand to his chest, "is Callous Romandi, and this fine lady here is Niett Hyrdane."
Hargun looked away from Xtopher a moment and smiled a fake smile at the Combines representatives, he was somewhat surprised as he had never seen their race before, only communicated from the Combine itself. However he nodded to them "Greetings, please sit down and join us... however its a bit of a strenuous moment..."
He turned and looked at the Emerald sword. "Your actions in Exceion may very well have doomed us all in Ancerious... What was on that moon was not something you can control... unless it wants you too."
The Combine representatives had just settled in. Callous, still smiling, made a rather obvious *harrumph.*
"While we have been monitoring the...situation in the conference, I haven't the slightest idea of what you mean. I suspect I am not the only one, hmm?"
Reik stood up slightly, only to stretch, he hadn't had much time in the lobby, and FTL travel was strenuous on the body, even if you don't need cryo freezing tech. He turned to one of his assistants.
"Go to the prowler, and have comms message the amethyst tower to authorize sending in D2 class forces, we're going to cycle some out..." he said, this meaning that there was going to be some new tech revealed by carnaith...
Reik sat down again, hoping he didn't distract too many people.
Laramar leant to one of his aids "Tell Azar he needs to be ready to command more forces, brief Lock on the situation."
Hargun also turned to whisper into the ear of one of his aids, out of hearing of everyone else he whispered a small sentence "Get a message for the Emperor ASAP, we have a Condition red."
Allready, things were getting complicated.
--oOo--
Xtopher sat down, tired at this point of the nonsense that he had been forced to endure. "I will speak to you in private captain, after the meeting." Before turning the Emerald sword. Looking at him, a knowing expression on his skull... "It's alright child... You can stop covering for them now."
Another miscommunication: where Xtopher said child, he was merely referring to age. Xtopher was ancient; in his heart he carried ancient ideas, ancient memories. When he said child, it was not a malicious statement so much as an earnest imploration of grace.
"You have clearly been listening to the SSC. I'd try not to believe everything you hear if I were you. I'll admit that the possibility that the Flux exist is there, but that is only because rumours exist. And rumours are usually based in reality. But we have never met any such species. Nothing even close. Well there was one species, but I very much doubt they were the Flux. They were far too flashy."
The Emerald Sword looked around seeing many representatives whispering to each other. "And what has warranted such whispering? “
The SSC’s representative found all of this highly unamusing, to put it mildly.
“I will say this your unending sea of arrogance will drown you. If the weapon is so unthreatening I suppose you will not mind if we return it to sender with a little interest, and see just how ‘harmless’ it is. We do not make claims without proof and now that you have not verified you were complicit in attempted genocide. The evidence contained on that rod is preliminary, but it is clear you have never acted alone; in fact I would put forth the probability that in reality the Great Immortal Empire is little more than a vassal state of the Flux Ascendancy. Maybe you should call your masters in here so they can answer for themselves, talking to a puppet like you is tiring.”
Snappily, the Emerald Sword retorted. “By all means, do. These weapons are hard to harvest and your returning them would save us so much trouble.”
"Like I said,” Xtopher continued, “we were heavily skeptical at first, so we turned towards the "DATA" as you put it. Naturally, it seemed heavily unfeasible that you would have accepted the help of another, being the proud strong intelligent empire that you claim to be. However, the data gathered at Exceion, showing "Temporal Radiation" sources throughout the system where ships were known to have blown up without engaging yours gave rise to our suspicions. So we looked into what we knew..." The administrative caste said. Giving a gesture and bringing up a screen containing a schematic of an oddly shaped vessel; organic and oddly sweeping in its shape.
"This is a schematic put together by archivists pending the end of the Nightside war of ships that arrived without warning and aided in the battle of Neo-Leng. The men who described the designs were noted to have forgotten about them soon after... this however." He went on. Bringing up a second file detailing a pict-capture of a highlighted area of Radiation Exposures. the shape roughly matching the shape of the ships shown in the designs. "Was taken by the entity of the Altman, a vessel of unknown design that first stalked them before ramming the SSC vessel heading the rescue convoy en route back to our territories after Ambrosious. It matches none of your known designs as correlated by RUSE. This is not to say that we did not consider it to be of coincidence. As it could have been a simple pirate vessel, this was not expected to be the likely conclusion though... Then, as the meeting commenced, our intelligence networks received long range scans of the invasionary offensive line. And low and behold... similar readings throughout your territories. Correlating to data received by one of our captains during the Altman incident. Too accurately and too large of a scale to have been falsified... that, coupled with your uncanny tendency of possessing knowledge of movements and developments before they were even conceived, helped us to reach that conclusion."
The Calvara paused, regarding the Emerald Sword.
"But perhaps further proof is required..." he said, turning towards the SSC diplomat and giving a nod.
"If you would have any?"
As the new evidence was being presented Hess was already asking one of his assistant to retrieve some information from the Illuminary’s safe storage just for such an incidence as was currently unfolding. “Actually as a matter of fact I have two specific pieces of evidence to add to the point you have made, the first piece contains two separate scans of two separate enemy vessels during the Altman incident.”’
Hess retrieved a small cube like device that slowly hovered above his hand spinning gently on unseen energies. The object was perhaps no bigger in any dimension then three inches and composed of an unknown material. The object’s sides were polished to a perfect shine which was accented by the shimmering dark material that the object was composed of. Hess spoke a few hushed commands to the device in a language that was beyond the ability of any translator in the room and the object spun a bit faster emitting a holographic projection. It was a bow view from the SCS Pontic of the first enemy contact during the Altman incident.
“As you can see, this vessel which appeared shortly after our taskforce began towing the Altman it took up an attack vector before hunting fleet elements engaged and brought it down. Note the immense amount of temporal disruption its very existence is emitting. This ship is clearly beyond the capabilities of the Immortal Empire and its target was clearly the Altman. But what happens next is also worth note.”
The image shifts to the sensor sweep as seen by the SCS Vicksburg. The curved shape of the Vicksburg stood in contrast to the Tenebrae ship in tow and the SCS Oradell up front. It was clear the Vicksburg was built with compactness and perhaps aerodynamics in mind as the trailing teardrop shape of the vessel was apparent even from a starboard view. A few seconds in the footage pass before in a glittering object hurtles across the frame maneuvering somewhat through the applied defensive weapons fire of the Altman and the few SSC vessels able to fire in time.
Whatever it was, it moved fast: so fast it seemed that it was quite difficult to make out what precisely it was. Truth be told, this was not the only cause for its glittering blurred nature; the Uller’s Boxes on the ship the Flux had called the Fortunate Son’s wingtips ripped, prodded, and mocked reality to such an extent that they not only defied the unrecordable nature of the Ascendancy’s technology, but corrupted the data stream remarkably. Still, thanks to the SSC’s remarkable techniques, a crude image of what had likely happened remained for the ambassadors to see.
Moments pass as the vessel disappears under the Altman and emerges taking a right turn, the seconds continue as it like an unstoppable juggernaut plows into the stern of the SCS Macon and both explode violently sending glowing shrapnel across the frame.
“That is the second ship, but of course I’m sure the Empire over there will claim it could be anything…the last three seconds of sensor data from the Macon however says otherwise..”
Moments later the image shifted to the last few seconds of existence the Macon had in its career. At first the scopes were clear then something came about the Altman and there in the last few moments was the telling shape of a flux vessel of the same type as the one defeated earlier. As if to drive the point home the last second of footage shows the crumpling hull sections of the two ships before the sensor feed is ended by the collision.
“From that two conclusions can be drawn, either the Immortal empire is lying about its concerns about foreign activities because they allow temporal marauders on their borders…or they are in league with these marauders, who we know as the Flux. As if this is not damning enough there is the second piece of evidence.”
Hess typed a few commands into the objects controls through some sort of holographic keyboard only he could see. The object paused in its spinning, ended the currant file and begun spinning again as it projected a new image, this time of the Immortal Empire territory in modest detail as seen from above. The Tenebrae and Carnaith corridors appeared on a portion of the map and the image zoomed in to show the area in great detail. Images of the assorted sides vessels appeared in the image as they moved in miniature. Tiny weapons fire could be seen in battle zones and the time stamp for the image was set to months prior.
“This is the battle area from months prior when Tenebrae and Carnaithian forces moved on the Immortal Empire after the incursion of a nation recently revealed as Capitol also attacked. But this isn’t the evidence in question…just watch.”
The image of the area suddenly had a green cross hatch applied over a roughly circular area enveloping the battle zone a d a number of adjacent areas within the Immortal Empire. As it sat there the battles continued on but something curious began to happen. Dozens of temporal distortions appeared across the affected areas and they were fleeing outward to other areas. Someone decided to get out of dodge and the included sensor analysis put the energy emissions at a match to the encountered vessels in the Altman incident. The Temporal marauders were residing within the Immortal Empire!
“So then, we now have clear evidence the Immortal Empire has been harboring these people, the Flux within their borders or are so blind they never noticed they had an infestation. I would like to think the Immortal Empire was smarter than this however…I’d also like to see what they’ve got to say to being caught with their pants down.”
The humour in the SSC representative’s voice was strangely out of place given the gravity of such accusations, but as out of place as that behaviour may have been, it would pale later on.
Neither Callous nor Niett said a word. The creature on Niett's shoulder made a brief noise akin to a chirp.
Xtopher sat back in his chair. "The continuous holes in your logic of course..."
A soft snoring was heard eminating from the Coalition Delegation, and it might have been seen that the Therion Matriarch was shaking the bat-like Jakeili representative awake where he sat on the 'remarkably comfortable' chairs as he so eloquently put it as he sat up and stretched, how little he could in aforementioned 'odd chairs' with his wings and all. The Matriarch rolled her eyes and began pulling open a combat ration she had brought along, offering the nutrition bar that came with to one of her male Thrall members, part of the 'security' detatchment. She then went about quietly eating a pouch of fruit while the Gadzu noisily absconded with the bag of chips... to which shi leaned over to the Sutfein, gently mumbling.
"It's alot like eating chips in a Jakeili Church, they all look at you with angry gazes, but deep down they want some too..." The statement earned a soft hissing snort from the gigantic Naga who sat back on the immense bed of coils shi had built for hirself during the beginnings of the preliminary talks.
The Therion Matriarch paused, halfway through overly lewdly eating a slice of a blue fruit to the amusement of the Gadzu representative... and wave gently, "Oh, don't mind us... carry on, carry on."
Reik raised his hand, asking to no-one in particular, more to anyone who Could answer him; "I wish to know... who are the Flux?" he asked with a grimace, they seemed to be VERY dangerous.
He was not alone in his confusion.
"As do I, I feel rather uninformed which is saying something for one of my age" Laramar remarked in a worried tone.
"Indeed, who?" Niett asked.
Circe shuffled uncomfortably in her seat and looked over to Xtopher.
The Administrative caste put his hands on the table, turning to look at the representatives as they raised their hands ad inquired on the nature of the secretive race, remembered and secretly documented largely by the archives and Archivist-castes of his race not long after the Nightside War. Sketches of their ships that had been drawn from memory by soldiers that had survived the final battle, which had eerily matched multiple points of description of the Altman incident. Even on the part of the SSC, a race that, acccording to their relations, should not have known.
"There is no clear answer to that...what we know of them is sketchy at best. But what we do know has… matched up almost perfectly..." He paused as he looked at Circe... "Is something wrong miss?" He asked curiously.
"No...no...I'm fine, Xtopher" Circe replied, her eyes flashing blue for a brief second before returning to normal.
Niett returned to her seat, saying nothing but looking directly at Callous. Callous only looked at his companion and nodded. The creature on Niett's shoulder softly chirped again.
Xtopher only nodded, looking a little unsettled. Before turning back towards the assembled delegates around the chamber.
The IRS rep after the sudden outburst of activity shuffled uneasily... After all if due to this very conference the IRS was to be targeted by either the IE or this... Flux then it would be a dark day indeed, he hoped to avoid the casualty counts, however if the IRS was forced into a conflict they would not shy away from it.
There was silence... Hargun heard some uneasy coughs before he stood up. The unease in the room was palpable.
"I think... that’s enough on the war for now...” He said feeling the tension in the air practically impacting him as he stood up "Perhaps we can move onto other pressing matters, like the Dark Triumvirate..."
"What of them?" Niett asked.
Hargun turned to the Ostech representatives "We have word that they are planning an attack on the Nex, and that they have”
“We are not done here.”
The Emerald Sword said the words without malice, of course; it was simply his effort to communicate. Naturally, his lack of grace was well received.
Hargun turned around. “How dare you! The war has had its part! Now sit down!”
Naturally, as anyone who knew how an Emerald Sword reacted to direct commands from someone not his superior, the Emerald Sword ignored Hargun. Furthermore, the extensive monologue that followed did little to further efforts at peace; though here too while seeming on surface value to be incredibly dense and somewhat bull headed, it was well calculated too. It was just as much as an opportunity for misinformation as it was an effort at negotations; albeit one not uttered in perhaps the most profitable of tones.
The Emerald Sword had stood silently, taking in the data put forth by both the SSC and Tenebrae delegations.
“This data is most grave, and for so many reasons. If, and that is a big ‘if,’ this data proves to be true, then someone or something is using the Immortal Empire’s war to further their own goals. An unknown variable. Most distasteful. I will bring this information to the attention of the Council of Thirteen, and we will investigate this infestation of our territory in this galaxy, and possibly our own. This will prove difficult as our knowledge of chronotech is admittedly… limited, compared to what your two empires seem to possess. Which is a shame, such knowledge being wasted on fools. And when I say fools, it isn’t myself I am comparing you to but the expectations I had of you. I had expected you to catch on to the subtle meanings to my words, but either the translator the Union has supplied is faulty or you’re intentionally thick. Having learned your languages, I’m going with the latter. So for your sakes I shall be blunt. No more word play, no more subtle meanings, no more witty banter. I attended this conference without announcing my intention to the Union of Worlds. This was so that I could see all of those attending this meeting when my presence was announced. It told me so very much. It told me who knew of the Immortal Empire, and what they thought of us. It was because of your reactions that I chose to humor you, and answer your questions. It was not my purpose in coming here, but I saw it as necessary. It was to put forth a reason for why we have acted as we have. I had expected condemnation, but not to this degree.”
The Emerald Sword turned to address Hargun. “You have gathered here those that you feel share, at least to a degree, your views and morals, correct? Those that you feel would work with you and you with them in a joint effort to better this galaxy for all those that inhabit it? I would not expect the Immortal Empire could be part of this ‘alliance,’ nor would it want to be. But that you would still allow Tenebrae to join, this speaks volumes. You would allow a nation that willingly destroyed a planet full of civilians to join? Some of those civilians, I might add, actually disproved of the Immortal Empire’s attack on Tenebrae. These people supported Tenebrae. They felt as many of you do, that we did not have the right to judge this alien nation. You would truly allow such people to join you in defending the galaxy? If so, then I pity you and the people under your care.”
The Emerald Sword turned again, this time to both the SSC and Tenebrae representatives. “Now listen well, for the fate of your people may depend on it.
To the SSC Representative Hess, there is nothing you can do. No action you make can stop what is now coming for your people. You have captured twelve of the weapons; the AC-Ws are what we call them. Twelve weapons, launched from just as many ships. Ships that I’m sure your people saw coming. As a matter of fact, we were positive that you would see them coming. Let that sink in for a moment while I address Tenebrae.”
Any attempt by Hess to speak was robbed by the Emerald Sword. The words erased even as they left his mouth, cancelled out by the Emerald Sword’s helmet.
“I’ll not be drowned out by your pointless objections and accusations, not when what I have to say is so much more important. Now then,” the Emerald Sword turned his featureless mask to focus on Xtopher, “I’ll repeat myself. What’s inside the briefcases is a surprise. Think about it. Analyze it. ‘Briefcases.’ Plural. There is more than the one. A lot more than one. I expect that to be clear enough for you. So here is my proposal. Accept the Union’s sage advice. You can end this war, you can save so many lives. All you have to do is surrender here and now, and your people won’t even have to worry about what’s inside those scary little briefcases. I believe our terms are reasonable, if you choose to hear them. Of course, if you simply reject my offer… well that’s entirely your choice now isn’t it.”
Ambassador Drogan and General Templar simply watched the different representatives bicker and argue over why the Immortal Empire reason's were not just and kept silent. Drogan waited until he would have a chance to speak which when it came he stood up and said with a slight grin on his face.
From a historic perspective, Drogan’s proposal would likely be regarded as the most even handed effort at improving the relations between these two most bitter adversaries. Peace is a very easy word to throw around after all; all men want peace, particularly the peace from those they oppose. But Drogan’s effort was remarkable in its earnesty and sincerity; while all other players in this game talked of peace in favourable terms, none had made so bold and honest of a proposal for how to accomplish it.
"Well I am pretty sure we are all aware that the Immortal Empire and the Tenebrae Empire are going to have a hard time finding peace. However may i propose a slow but most stable approach for a long term goal of peace?" A hologram like control scheme appeared on his hand as he lifted it up. "So far my Lord's empire has used this method to end aggression between two factions. Though the process takes some time I calculate that it would have a 75% success rate for bringing peace between the two nations minus the need for a pointless war."
Drogan the outstretched his hand and the hologram expanded to reveal a world which is currently in the mars empire territory as well as a zoomed image of one of the major cities that spand it's surface. Drogan then said looking at the Immortal Empire and Tenebrae representives.
"For this approach we simply make two colonies and place them right next to each other." A highlighted section that divided the two cities appeared in the image and Drogan continued.
“They are divided of course to prevent unwanted violence but in the middle section of this divider is another city one where the future generations of the two empires are put together. This causes some friction at first but after enough time we have seen that the populace (with some minor encouragement) slowly begin to accept one another and begin to for a more stable or peaceful relation to the other."
The highlighted section's influence slowly began to expand to the other cities as Drogan spoke. "This believe then begins to spread across the divider to the other sections and within several years begins to spread to other worlds thus removing the anger towards one another." Drogan then closed the hologram and said.
"If the Immortal Empire and Tenebrae are willing to perform this method then there might be a chance although a slow one mind you to spare the blood shed between the two."
For a brief moment, a notion of this scale was likely considered.
But then fate intervened. And then it all got messy.
--oOo—
Carnaith has a distinctly honour oriented culture, a throw over from the many battles in its illustrious history and the warrior’s code that had evolved from it. Without a proper understanding of the culture Reik originated from, what happened next would look only to be one thing: a blatant invitation for violence.
Reik pulled out his personal revolver, but anyone with quick eyes could see he was de-cocking it, and then taking the cylinder out, he then slammed his hand on the table and slid the pistol over to the union delegates; "hold on to that for me, will you?" he said, then giving a glare to the Emerald Sword. "If looks could kill..." said one of his assistants.
Now, from the perspective of an inhabitant of Carnaith, what was done here was thus: Reik was disarming. He was, in his own way, indicating both his strong dislike for the course of events that had lead them all to this room; the surprise attack, the massacres perpetrated by both sides, and these unsettling rumours of this so called Flux. But in unloading his revolver, he was also showing his unwillingness to fight further over the matter; this was a time for negotiation, not for bitter words which were now being flung by multiple parties.
Alas, few present had quite as fine a grasp on the finer points of Carnaith’s culture. What followed was suffice to say rather chaotic.
"GUN!"
The moment the revolver slipped from the holster, the Teruvian male was already moving... it hadn't even cleared the table by the time he was shoving the Therion Matriarch to the deck, with Victoria - the Teruvian Female - pulling the Jakeili down with her. At the shout, all five of the Therion males comprising of the 'security detatchment' that was the Matriarch's Thrall were moving... Immense, dinner-plate hooves slammed onto the table, causing items to bounce from the sheer weight as all five simply vaulted in table with the intent to full-body-check the Carnaith representatives to the ground and pin them... Five Therions, each nearly four hundred pounds of muscle rated for 4.3 Standard gravities and standing at an easy 7.5 Feet tall came at the Carnaithians like roaring freight trains. They were 'unarmed' in the sense that they didn't have swords or projectile weapons.... that didn't stop them from having the four-inch long sharpened claws on their finger tips as they put their immense weight on the Carnaith Representatives, one of them shouting; "Where is your security, HARGUN?!"
Multiple Skia phased in around the Coalition Therion males and grabbed them, each stopping the crushing weight and merely pushed them off of the Carnaith reps quickly. The black alien creatures then formed a wall around the Carnaith delegates and Hargun could be seen holding his head in his hand shaking his head.
When Reik pulled out his pistol revolver the two giant motionless royal guards of the Mars Empire raised their sheilds and moved them where Drogan and Templar would be most protected. They moved so fast that they looked like a blur and Drogan was slightly shocked before he could try to salvage the situation. Templar however remained unaffected and kept watch over the other reperesentatives. Once Drogan recovered from the sudden response of the royal guard he turned to Hargun and said with disappointment.
"Such a shame..... I had hoped things would have turned out better." He returned to his seat and not long after Templar raised his hand signaling the royal guard who moved back to their original positions. Their eyes however searched the other delegates keeping a watchful eye just in case the situation got even worse.
"ENOUGH!" he shouted. Everyone stopped. "THIS IS A PEACE CONFERENCE TREAT IT AS SUCH!"
Hargun grabbed the pistol and threw it away. As Reik sat down two of the Skia Hargun had assigned for security purposes phased in behind him and checked him over for other weapons, the whole delegations whispering to themselves.
Hargun was not amused.
"Settle down! They are a security measure for those who bring weapons to a peace conference..."
He gave Reik a very angry look.
"As for the Immortal Empire..." Hargun was silent for a moment.
"I invited you here to negotiate peace, not to dally about with your idiotic logic. Many w!re surprised by Harguns statement.
"Get out. You are no longer welcome here." At this a couple of Skia phased in and made gestures for the Emerald Sword to move back to his ship. "Go. I never want to see your likes again."
Peace, it seemed, was beginning to slip away.
Hargun turned to the Mars Empire "I’m sorry but your proposal will only fall on deaf ears..." If only they would listen.
So Hargun spoke. The chaos of the moment swallowed rationality; a chaos, oddly enough, derived from an earnest attempt at peace, and from a dramatic though equally earnest commitment to the process. Perhaps deaf ears was not the right choice of words; after all, only in the breath before, Hargun had commanded the eviction of the Immortal Empire’s representative from the proceedings. He felt a great sense of disillusionment about it all, at a moment like this; a great unification in this galaxy had seemed almost palpable earlier. He was a firm believer in the destiny of sentient races to come together under a common banner, a common ideal, but now the creeds that governed souls seemed vastly separated from each other.
Xtopher turned towards Drogan as the ambassador went about his description, listening intently to the full explanation before he would speak, his calm look and voice betraying the amount of frustration that the Emerald Sword had displayed.
"While I speak for the Tenebrean Empire in the fact that we would be willing to agree for peace and even more for a cease fire, They have made it clear that they are unwilling to go through with the proposal. They want a surrender and a weakly earned victory based on acts of terrorism, and implanted logic. I'm sorry, but that option is no longer a possibility." he nodded, clearly disappointed to a degree. But showing an amount of his appreciation for the gesture.
Defiant as any one of a specialized warrior’s caste may be, the Emerald Sword continued on calmly in spite of the Skia.
"I may be a guest here, but you did not invite me, you allowed me admittance. There is a difference. And as of right now you don't have the right to expel me from this meeting. Not yet. Not until I get Tenebrae's answer to my offer." He turned to Xtopher.
"This is your final answer?"
Xtopher turned towards the emerald sword, his voice and his skeletal face expressing what appeared to be pity of a genuine type.
"I pity your colonies, truly I do. You've allowed doom into them, but you've done it to yourself..." He said, Turning to look towards the emerald sword.
"But you’re not the only empire that can plant contingencies, i think that was a quote by someone in our history once, "Contingencies are a good thing." And we've had them in place sense the Cerabians fell and we observed your methods from afar, Ambrosious was a messy delivery of them, true. But in the end we did deliver. But if you've tried to weaponize what i think you have, then deploying it now would be a waste of our time... so, i have to decline... But if its of any consolation, I'm sorry, so sorry for what your people will have to go through for your foolishness." he said, sitting back down.
"Another thing to keep note of." He said, looking up one more time. "If our ancient files are true. it can infect bio-matter just as easily as it can metal." Before going silent and looking up at the the representative without another word.
Hargun looked at the Emerald Sword furiously.
"True we didnt invite you. Which means either two things are going to happen. The Immortal Empire is at war with the Union. You are currently on Union territory. You will either leave or you will be terminated right here and now. Which would you prefer? Do not take my easy going outlook as a sign of weakness, i can order your death as easily as a click of my fingers. Its due to my acceptance that you even got a chance to speak let alone get into Union territory. Now make a wise choice and leave."
As the room quieted down a few ongoing chuckles could be heard from the drakes, quickly going silent.
Laramar sat back in his chair cool composure on his face as he watched the brawling aliens and the strange phasic reatures.
Counsler Rowan seemed to be unphased by the revolver, the DHR was a very libertarian society and there citizians might argueably and collectively own more guns then any military organization. She paid it no mind, that and she wore a PSU not that anyone could tell unless they shot at her. She just sat there with her arms crossed as the Emerald Swordseemingly made more threats and hints to threats, her point of view anyway, and the entire original purpose of the meeting drowned in an avalanch of one star nation after another digging their holes deeper and deeper." I swear to bloody god, i am glad Deneb chose the location he did. As far away from all of you as fucking possible...” She said perhaps drowned out and under her breath.
Hess watched the chaos unfolding carefully having taken no action during any of it. The situation was deteriorating rapidly and it ws clear the Immortal empier had likely never intended to even negotiate on the current conflict.
"And as for you!" Hargun turned to Reik "Get out, i want another Carnaith rep here immediately. You have just disgraced the term peace conference. Your superiors will be noted on this. Now leave like the IE rep and have another replace you.”
The Therion Matriarch got up and pointed accusingly at Reik and then Hargun.
“This was a peace conference, was it not?” You have been ARGUING over all this entire time and now THOSE guys decide to break out a fucking weapon!" Shi snarled and slammed a fist on the table, "You want a PEACE conference, then you should make sure it REMAINS peaceful instead of overlooking a damnable REVOLVER. You claim to be able to keep galactic peace when you can't keep a simple slug-thrower off your own goddamn station?! Mr. Hargun, I'm quickly beginning to realize that you may not even have the power to keep your own STATION safe, let alone stop supposed galactic mass murderers!" She flung a hand at the Immortal Empire, "Half of the peoples here aren't even involved in this damned war, yet you've drug us here to listen to incesssant babbling back and fourth from a bunch of talking heads about who did what to who. WHY are we here, Mr. Hargun?!"
This was not a moment for a lesser man, and it was quite providential that Hargun was not one of that mold.
“I think,” he said slowly, keeping his composure far more in check than he imagined himself otherwise capable of, “that we ought to conclude our talks for the day. We can resume again in the morning,” he stated with such unsettling calmness that it held slightly more effect than one might have granted it at the hour. He shot a look at the empty seats where the Immortal Empire and the representative of Carnaith had sat so recently, before looking back at the Therion Matriarch. “Perhaps by then calmer heads will prevail.”
--oOo—
TO BE CONTINUED
Union High command Orbital: Mirach system: Union space
Drogan turned towards Hargun and replied.
"Thank you Hargun. I am confident that my lord's empire might be able to aid in this since many situations have been solved in our territory of this region of the Ancerious galaxy." As Drogan spoke, General Templar simply watched what was happening.
Counsellor Rowan looks over her note takers notes so far. The conference was recorded of course by one of her two helpers, but one of them took short compressed notes on paper about the varying factions, their reps, and standpoints. She frowns seeing the two page summary on the Emerald Sword as the Immortal Empire’s representative seemed to be called. She hands the papers back with a sigh and re crossed her arms looking at them all.
"Oh? You all were unaware of the attempt to kill two birds with one stone?” She had a strangely amused look on her snout as she spoke.
“That’s right, someone tried to commit genocide unlike, as far as I know, anything in the record of history itself. As it could have even spread to elsewhere other then the target it was aimed at. And it could be attempted on any one of you... "she then looks around the room with a rather stern like expression.
"So if I were you, if you all have not done so already," she warns as she looks directly at the Emerald Sword agent, while speaking to the others. "Construct the most advanced array of sensors you can and always keep an eye out for such a cowardly attempt. For that is simply what it is, pathetic attempts at declaring it logic aside."
Rowan then withdrew herself from the conversation and talks in hushed whispers to the recorder.
Lydia nodded in approval at the DHR comment on the Immortal Empires’ cold logic, and smiled towards Counsellor Rowan. Hargun on the other hand was more reserved about it however but still slightly nodded in agreement trying to conceal his agreement of it all.
"That is an understatement, as you can see in the evidence two of the object trajectories would have landed near coalition space. The coalition trades all over the galaxy, all it would have taken was a few of their freighters to get infected...and then it's in everyone’s back yard and eventually even your own. Now I find it hard to believe with your 'predictive abilities' you are so proud of...that you failed to predict how blind this attack was. So I ask you again, what is your explanation for such incredible stupidity?"
Laramar spoke up after the DHR comment. "As terrible as these attacks are and could have been, I think your underestimate the genocidal capabilities of other races in this galaxy."
Pham sit up in his chair listening intently to the conversations that had begun to break out between the representatives, bowing his head and sighing slightly in disappointment as they began to deviate from the topic at hand. Presently he stood, waiting for the other arguments to die down before speaking.
"I would like to restate Xtophers question, in regards to the briefcase recovered in Exceion. I believe that the Union is aware of it for the reason that it was a Union Security team that aided in its recovery. Despite the severity of this… utterly cowardly and increasingly logic less movement of infection you attempted. I will ask again, what is in the briefcase?" he said, making as good eye contact with the Emerald swords masked face as he could.
"I agree, that is a important question to ask of the Immoral Empire, what is in the case? I do think coming clean now may help your position in the eyes of the galaxy as a whole somewhat."
It is important to consider just how odd this question was for the Emerald Sword. After all, a war was raging, and in his eyes these diplomats were more interested in interrogating (admittedly in a more civil way than most interrogations were want to go) the Emerald Sword for information than actually discussing diplomacy.
Hargun was noted suddenly by a quiet bleeping in his ear, he turned to look away and recieved the communication. It was short, just a notification of some more guests arriving, due to their nature of long range travel it made sense of their late arrival. Either way it would be good to have them "Everyone I have a small notification, the representatives of the Ostech Combine will be joining us shortly. Anyway continue."
Xtopher looked up at the mention of the arrival of the representatives.
"The Ostech combine..." He mused curiously, before looking over the other representatives in the chamber. Looking at the delegates of the Mars Empire where they sat.
"Long distances, right... " He said to himself, before turning his attention back towards the Emerald Sword, aware of the Stromian representative as it read over the files stored in the data stick it received. Whispering quietly to the Male Raudonah and the Lahthanian over particular details of the SSCs report.
Alex and Jay both remain silent, Jay listening attentively and Alex's mind wandering to the woman who had convinced him to come to this meeting, the representative for the union, as he plays a card game not unlike solitaire with his nano-implant, in his head, trusting the recording of his memories and Jay's fastidiousness to ensure anything important was remembered.
The Emerald Sword raised his hand calling for silence so that he might talk uncontested. “Alright, I’ll enlighten you. First, let me have one of those. I wish to know exactly what you’re going on about.”
As the Emerald Sword waited for a data rod to be handed to him, he turned to address Hargun.
“Why are you surprised that I rejected peace with Tenebrae? Are you so unaccustomed to being told ‘no?’ I have stated, repeatedly I might add, why we are at war with Tenebrae. That you would even suggest such a course of action means that you either only heard what you wanted from me, or chose to ignore what I said entirely. Or you're completely naive.”
The Emerald Sword took the data rod, and staring at it, turned it a few times over in his hand. “Oh, those. I rather liked those. I thought they were clever. Long story short, we found something, it infected our ships, we captured it, we studied it, we weaponized it. And then, the SSC declared war on us. Seeing as how we are busy enough as is with Tenebrae, Capitol, and Carnaith, the best course of action was to give the SSC something to worry about away from the fighting. And again, the damage that would have been done has been exaggerated. It is hardly genocidal in nature. It is meant to keep them busy. And do you really think that we would risk the involvement of a race that wasn’t our intended target?”
Here was an example of a miscommunication: for an empire as thick in the skin, as indomitable really, as the Immortal Empire, this weapon was just that: something meant to keep people busy. They had, after all, grown to twice the size of most other factions with the acquisition of the Cerebian territories; and with their uncanny luck (both uncanny and luck being slightly erroneous here) with finding rich solar systems to colonize, they simply looked at things on a different scale than the rest. What was potentially apocalyptic in the eyes of the other attendees of the conference was merely a diversion to the Emerald Sword.
The Emerald Sword turns to the Tenebrae delegation as he continues, “As for what’s inside the briefcases. It’s a surprise. Now, do remember that we started this war trying to keep civilian deaths to an absolute minimum, both ours and yours. Thanks to your actions in the Ambrosius system however, we no longer have any such qualms.”
Hargun’s eye twitched and he spun to the side to stop Lydia as she began to spew insults. She stopped with her mouth open and merely stood staring at the IE rep, she slowly sat down and kept her eyes firmly fixed. Hargun sat back down.
"No, we are not ‘customed to people saying no. But then again those are races with some sort of intelligence" Hargun let the insult slip, he had invited them here to put across their side. And all he was getting was illogical nonsense and excuses for potential genocide and unwanted war.
War unwanted by the Union, anyway.
"If the races you deal with are usually intelligent then how do you cope? I said the Immortal Empire wouldn't be seeking peace until certain conditions are met. You didn't even try to find out what conditions those were. Instead you focus on the refusal." There was certainly a degree of antagonism to the Emerald Sword’s words, though in sincerity the idea was an honest one; intended as a direct comment on the strange direction of the negotiations. For as undiplomatic as the Emerald Sword’s words were, this was more on account of conditioning than malice; his efforts here were sincere.
"Then tell me what are those conditions exactly?” Hargun replied evenly. “We have offered a cease fire to you. Surely that should be good enough."
Inside of his helmet, the Emerald Sword’s mouth opened as he prepared to respond, but the representative from the Tenebraens rapped his palms onto the large wooden table.
Xtopher put his hands on the table in front of him, now quite tired of the nonsense and the attempts to mislead the assembled groups there. Opening his jaws to speak.
"You claim strength, and you claim tests. But you are not the only race capable of them. Ambrosious was no simple attack, as it benefited you, so too did it us. Even more then it did you it seems from what the Tenebrean empire received from it and its aftermath... We stuck a sword in your side, but it was laced... So Tell me, Child. How long has your race been in contact with the Flux?"
Hargun immediately looked at Xtopher, with a look of mixed fear and surprise.
"It's not "your" conditions…it would be theirs wouldn’t it?" He said, turning to look up at Hargun, a look of crystal calmness on his skull. When he spoke, his voice was calm, but disappointment was clear in it.
"I didn’t want to believe it a first, but after information we received from the Altman incident, well... It all began to fall into place. Temporal radiation signatures from reviews of Exceion, ships blowing up despite not being near any Immortal Empire ships at the time... old documents from the Nightside war."
The doors opened, and in walked two beings quite alien in appearance even to each other. Both were reptilian and wearing metallic outfits, but one was quite short, barely four feet in height. His wardrobe, such as it was, was quite thick and covered much of his body; servos and hydraulics at each of the joints indicated it was an exosuit more for function than fashion. He resembled a crocodile, though his long head and thick tail were all that showed of it. His mud-colored hide, however, had not a single scale but was instead soft and moist, in fact almost slimy.
The other was entirely alien in comparison - thin, elegant and six feet tall. Her outfit needed no motorized joints to help with movement as the other's did, and was instead an elegant series of metallic strips wrapping around her body. The metallic aqua outfit complimented her rich sapphire-colored scales, themselves enhanced with swirling deep-lavender-colored patterns which swept around her body. Perched on her left shoulder was a small creature, practically unnoticed at first. It resembled a hairless rodent, and at just under a foot tall it seemed unremarkable. Aside from the mechanical prosthetics that had replaced both of its left feet, right eye, part of its jaw and half of its tail, and indicated it did indeed come from the Combine.
For the two people had come from the Ostech Combine, as well. The crocodilian representative was smiling upon entry, whereas the other showed no apparent interest. When the two had penetrated the room so far as to be sure they were all visible, the pair stopped. The shorter representative, a Kalhare, then bowed. "I take it that we've arrived in time to join the party?" a light, synthesized voice crowed. The Kalhare made something of an "Oh" sound, and the voice added, "My, my, aren't we in a foul mood today?"
"Can you blame them, considering the circumstances?" The elegant woman asked.
The Kalhare sighed, though it was overpowered by the synthetic voice as it said, "No, my dear, I don't suppose I can." As the Kalhare beamed again, the voice continued, "It is with great honor that we represent the Ostech Combine today. My name," the voice said as the Kalhare placed a four-fingered hand to his chest, "is Callous Romandi, and this fine lady here is Niett Hyrdane."
Hargun looked away from Xtopher a moment and smiled a fake smile at the Combines representatives, he was somewhat surprised as he had never seen their race before, only communicated from the Combine itself. However he nodded to them "Greetings, please sit down and join us... however its a bit of a strenuous moment..."
He turned and looked at the Emerald sword. "Your actions in Exceion may very well have doomed us all in Ancerious... What was on that moon was not something you can control... unless it wants you too."
The Combine representatives had just settled in. Callous, still smiling, made a rather obvious *harrumph.*
"While we have been monitoring the...situation in the conference, I haven't the slightest idea of what you mean. I suspect I am not the only one, hmm?"
Reik stood up slightly, only to stretch, he hadn't had much time in the lobby, and FTL travel was strenuous on the body, even if you don't need cryo freezing tech. He turned to one of his assistants.
"Go to the prowler, and have comms message the amethyst tower to authorize sending in D2 class forces, we're going to cycle some out..." he said, this meaning that there was going to be some new tech revealed by carnaith...
Reik sat down again, hoping he didn't distract too many people.
Laramar leant to one of his aids "Tell Azar he needs to be ready to command more forces, brief Lock on the situation."
Hargun also turned to whisper into the ear of one of his aids, out of hearing of everyone else he whispered a small sentence "Get a message for the Emperor ASAP, we have a Condition red."
Allready, things were getting complicated.
--oOo--
Xtopher sat down, tired at this point of the nonsense that he had been forced to endure. "I will speak to you in private captain, after the meeting." Before turning the Emerald sword. Looking at him, a knowing expression on his skull... "It's alright child... You can stop covering for them now."
Another miscommunication: where Xtopher said child, he was merely referring to age. Xtopher was ancient; in his heart he carried ancient ideas, ancient memories. When he said child, it was not a malicious statement so much as an earnest imploration of grace.
"You have clearly been listening to the SSC. I'd try not to believe everything you hear if I were you. I'll admit that the possibility that the Flux exist is there, but that is only because rumours exist. And rumours are usually based in reality. But we have never met any such species. Nothing even close. Well there was one species, but I very much doubt they were the Flux. They were far too flashy."
The Emerald Sword looked around seeing many representatives whispering to each other. "And what has warranted such whispering? “
The SSC’s representative found all of this highly unamusing, to put it mildly.
“I will say this your unending sea of arrogance will drown you. If the weapon is so unthreatening I suppose you will not mind if we return it to sender with a little interest, and see just how ‘harmless’ it is. We do not make claims without proof and now that you have not verified you were complicit in attempted genocide. The evidence contained on that rod is preliminary, but it is clear you have never acted alone; in fact I would put forth the probability that in reality the Great Immortal Empire is little more than a vassal state of the Flux Ascendancy. Maybe you should call your masters in here so they can answer for themselves, talking to a puppet like you is tiring.”
Snappily, the Emerald Sword retorted. “By all means, do. These weapons are hard to harvest and your returning them would save us so much trouble.”
"Like I said,” Xtopher continued, “we were heavily skeptical at first, so we turned towards the "DATA" as you put it. Naturally, it seemed heavily unfeasible that you would have accepted the help of another, being the proud strong intelligent empire that you claim to be. However, the data gathered at Exceion, showing "Temporal Radiation" sources throughout the system where ships were known to have blown up without engaging yours gave rise to our suspicions. So we looked into what we knew..." The administrative caste said. Giving a gesture and bringing up a screen containing a schematic of an oddly shaped vessel; organic and oddly sweeping in its shape.
"This is a schematic put together by archivists pending the end of the Nightside war of ships that arrived without warning and aided in the battle of Neo-Leng. The men who described the designs were noted to have forgotten about them soon after... this however." He went on. Bringing up a second file detailing a pict-capture of a highlighted area of Radiation Exposures. the shape roughly matching the shape of the ships shown in the designs. "Was taken by the entity of the Altman, a vessel of unknown design that first stalked them before ramming the SSC vessel heading the rescue convoy en route back to our territories after Ambrosious. It matches none of your known designs as correlated by RUSE. This is not to say that we did not consider it to be of coincidence. As it could have been a simple pirate vessel, this was not expected to be the likely conclusion though... Then, as the meeting commenced, our intelligence networks received long range scans of the invasionary offensive line. And low and behold... similar readings throughout your territories. Correlating to data received by one of our captains during the Altman incident. Too accurately and too large of a scale to have been falsified... that, coupled with your uncanny tendency of possessing knowledge of movements and developments before they were even conceived, helped us to reach that conclusion."
The Calvara paused, regarding the Emerald Sword.
"But perhaps further proof is required..." he said, turning towards the SSC diplomat and giving a nod.
"If you would have any?"
As the new evidence was being presented Hess was already asking one of his assistant to retrieve some information from the Illuminary’s safe storage just for such an incidence as was currently unfolding. “Actually as a matter of fact I have two specific pieces of evidence to add to the point you have made, the first piece contains two separate scans of two separate enemy vessels during the Altman incident.”’
Hess retrieved a small cube like device that slowly hovered above his hand spinning gently on unseen energies. The object was perhaps no bigger in any dimension then three inches and composed of an unknown material. The object’s sides were polished to a perfect shine which was accented by the shimmering dark material that the object was composed of. Hess spoke a few hushed commands to the device in a language that was beyond the ability of any translator in the room and the object spun a bit faster emitting a holographic projection. It was a bow view from the SCS Pontic of the first enemy contact during the Altman incident.
“As you can see, this vessel which appeared shortly after our taskforce began towing the Altman it took up an attack vector before hunting fleet elements engaged and brought it down. Note the immense amount of temporal disruption its very existence is emitting. This ship is clearly beyond the capabilities of the Immortal Empire and its target was clearly the Altman. But what happens next is also worth note.”
The image shifts to the sensor sweep as seen by the SCS Vicksburg. The curved shape of the Vicksburg stood in contrast to the Tenebrae ship in tow and the SCS Oradell up front. It was clear the Vicksburg was built with compactness and perhaps aerodynamics in mind as the trailing teardrop shape of the vessel was apparent even from a starboard view. A few seconds in the footage pass before in a glittering object hurtles across the frame maneuvering somewhat through the applied defensive weapons fire of the Altman and the few SSC vessels able to fire in time.
Whatever it was, it moved fast: so fast it seemed that it was quite difficult to make out what precisely it was. Truth be told, this was not the only cause for its glittering blurred nature; the Uller’s Boxes on the ship the Flux had called the Fortunate Son’s wingtips ripped, prodded, and mocked reality to such an extent that they not only defied the unrecordable nature of the Ascendancy’s technology, but corrupted the data stream remarkably. Still, thanks to the SSC’s remarkable techniques, a crude image of what had likely happened remained for the ambassadors to see.
Moments pass as the vessel disappears under the Altman and emerges taking a right turn, the seconds continue as it like an unstoppable juggernaut plows into the stern of the SCS Macon and both explode violently sending glowing shrapnel across the frame.
“That is the second ship, but of course I’m sure the Empire over there will claim it could be anything…the last three seconds of sensor data from the Macon however says otherwise..”
Moments later the image shifted to the last few seconds of existence the Macon had in its career. At first the scopes were clear then something came about the Altman and there in the last few moments was the telling shape of a flux vessel of the same type as the one defeated earlier. As if to drive the point home the last second of footage shows the crumpling hull sections of the two ships before the sensor feed is ended by the collision.
“From that two conclusions can be drawn, either the Immortal empire is lying about its concerns about foreign activities because they allow temporal marauders on their borders…or they are in league with these marauders, who we know as the Flux. As if this is not damning enough there is the second piece of evidence.”
Hess typed a few commands into the objects controls through some sort of holographic keyboard only he could see. The object paused in its spinning, ended the currant file and begun spinning again as it projected a new image, this time of the Immortal Empire territory in modest detail as seen from above. The Tenebrae and Carnaith corridors appeared on a portion of the map and the image zoomed in to show the area in great detail. Images of the assorted sides vessels appeared in the image as they moved in miniature. Tiny weapons fire could be seen in battle zones and the time stamp for the image was set to months prior.
“This is the battle area from months prior when Tenebrae and Carnaithian forces moved on the Immortal Empire after the incursion of a nation recently revealed as Capitol also attacked. But this isn’t the evidence in question…just watch.”
The image of the area suddenly had a green cross hatch applied over a roughly circular area enveloping the battle zone a d a number of adjacent areas within the Immortal Empire. As it sat there the battles continued on but something curious began to happen. Dozens of temporal distortions appeared across the affected areas and they were fleeing outward to other areas. Someone decided to get out of dodge and the included sensor analysis put the energy emissions at a match to the encountered vessels in the Altman incident. The Temporal marauders were residing within the Immortal Empire!
“So then, we now have clear evidence the Immortal Empire has been harboring these people, the Flux within their borders or are so blind they never noticed they had an infestation. I would like to think the Immortal Empire was smarter than this however…I’d also like to see what they’ve got to say to being caught with their pants down.”
The humour in the SSC representative’s voice was strangely out of place given the gravity of such accusations, but as out of place as that behaviour may have been, it would pale later on.
Neither Callous nor Niett said a word. The creature on Niett's shoulder made a brief noise akin to a chirp.
Xtopher sat back in his chair. "The continuous holes in your logic of course..."
A soft snoring was heard eminating from the Coalition Delegation, and it might have been seen that the Therion Matriarch was shaking the bat-like Jakeili representative awake where he sat on the 'remarkably comfortable' chairs as he so eloquently put it as he sat up and stretched, how little he could in aforementioned 'odd chairs' with his wings and all. The Matriarch rolled her eyes and began pulling open a combat ration she had brought along, offering the nutrition bar that came with to one of her male Thrall members, part of the 'security' detatchment. She then went about quietly eating a pouch of fruit while the Gadzu noisily absconded with the bag of chips... to which shi leaned over to the Sutfein, gently mumbling.
"It's alot like eating chips in a Jakeili Church, they all look at you with angry gazes, but deep down they want some too..." The statement earned a soft hissing snort from the gigantic Naga who sat back on the immense bed of coils shi had built for hirself during the beginnings of the preliminary talks.
The Therion Matriarch paused, halfway through overly lewdly eating a slice of a blue fruit to the amusement of the Gadzu representative... and wave gently, "Oh, don't mind us... carry on, carry on."
Reik raised his hand, asking to no-one in particular, more to anyone who Could answer him; "I wish to know... who are the Flux?" he asked with a grimace, they seemed to be VERY dangerous.
He was not alone in his confusion.
"As do I, I feel rather uninformed which is saying something for one of my age" Laramar remarked in a worried tone.
"Indeed, who?" Niett asked.
Circe shuffled uncomfortably in her seat and looked over to Xtopher.
The Administrative caste put his hands on the table, turning to look at the representatives as they raised their hands ad inquired on the nature of the secretive race, remembered and secretly documented largely by the archives and Archivist-castes of his race not long after the Nightside War. Sketches of their ships that had been drawn from memory by soldiers that had survived the final battle, which had eerily matched multiple points of description of the Altman incident. Even on the part of the SSC, a race that, acccording to their relations, should not have known.
"There is no clear answer to that...what we know of them is sketchy at best. But what we do know has… matched up almost perfectly..." He paused as he looked at Circe... "Is something wrong miss?" He asked curiously.
"No...no...I'm fine, Xtopher" Circe replied, her eyes flashing blue for a brief second before returning to normal.
Niett returned to her seat, saying nothing but looking directly at Callous. Callous only looked at his companion and nodded. The creature on Niett's shoulder softly chirped again.
Xtopher only nodded, looking a little unsettled. Before turning back towards the assembled delegates around the chamber.
The IRS rep after the sudden outburst of activity shuffled uneasily... After all if due to this very conference the IRS was to be targeted by either the IE or this... Flux then it would be a dark day indeed, he hoped to avoid the casualty counts, however if the IRS was forced into a conflict they would not shy away from it.
There was silence... Hargun heard some uneasy coughs before he stood up. The unease in the room was palpable.
"I think... that’s enough on the war for now...” He said feeling the tension in the air practically impacting him as he stood up "Perhaps we can move onto other pressing matters, like the Dark Triumvirate..."
"What of them?" Niett asked.
Hargun turned to the Ostech representatives "We have word that they are planning an attack on the Nex, and that they have”
“We are not done here.”
The Emerald Sword said the words without malice, of course; it was simply his effort to communicate. Naturally, his lack of grace was well received.
Hargun turned around. “How dare you! The war has had its part! Now sit down!”
Naturally, as anyone who knew how an Emerald Sword reacted to direct commands from someone not his superior, the Emerald Sword ignored Hargun. Furthermore, the extensive monologue that followed did little to further efforts at peace; though here too while seeming on surface value to be incredibly dense and somewhat bull headed, it was well calculated too. It was just as much as an opportunity for misinformation as it was an effort at negotations; albeit one not uttered in perhaps the most profitable of tones.
The Emerald Sword had stood silently, taking in the data put forth by both the SSC and Tenebrae delegations.
“This data is most grave, and for so many reasons. If, and that is a big ‘if,’ this data proves to be true, then someone or something is using the Immortal Empire’s war to further their own goals. An unknown variable. Most distasteful. I will bring this information to the attention of the Council of Thirteen, and we will investigate this infestation of our territory in this galaxy, and possibly our own. This will prove difficult as our knowledge of chronotech is admittedly… limited, compared to what your two empires seem to possess. Which is a shame, such knowledge being wasted on fools. And when I say fools, it isn’t myself I am comparing you to but the expectations I had of you. I had expected you to catch on to the subtle meanings to my words, but either the translator the Union has supplied is faulty or you’re intentionally thick. Having learned your languages, I’m going with the latter. So for your sakes I shall be blunt. No more word play, no more subtle meanings, no more witty banter. I attended this conference without announcing my intention to the Union of Worlds. This was so that I could see all of those attending this meeting when my presence was announced. It told me so very much. It told me who knew of the Immortal Empire, and what they thought of us. It was because of your reactions that I chose to humor you, and answer your questions. It was not my purpose in coming here, but I saw it as necessary. It was to put forth a reason for why we have acted as we have. I had expected condemnation, but not to this degree.”
The Emerald Sword turned to address Hargun. “You have gathered here those that you feel share, at least to a degree, your views and morals, correct? Those that you feel would work with you and you with them in a joint effort to better this galaxy for all those that inhabit it? I would not expect the Immortal Empire could be part of this ‘alliance,’ nor would it want to be. But that you would still allow Tenebrae to join, this speaks volumes. You would allow a nation that willingly destroyed a planet full of civilians to join? Some of those civilians, I might add, actually disproved of the Immortal Empire’s attack on Tenebrae. These people supported Tenebrae. They felt as many of you do, that we did not have the right to judge this alien nation. You would truly allow such people to join you in defending the galaxy? If so, then I pity you and the people under your care.”
The Emerald Sword turned again, this time to both the SSC and Tenebrae representatives. “Now listen well, for the fate of your people may depend on it.
To the SSC Representative Hess, there is nothing you can do. No action you make can stop what is now coming for your people. You have captured twelve of the weapons; the AC-Ws are what we call them. Twelve weapons, launched from just as many ships. Ships that I’m sure your people saw coming. As a matter of fact, we were positive that you would see them coming. Let that sink in for a moment while I address Tenebrae.”
Any attempt by Hess to speak was robbed by the Emerald Sword. The words erased even as they left his mouth, cancelled out by the Emerald Sword’s helmet.
“I’ll not be drowned out by your pointless objections and accusations, not when what I have to say is so much more important. Now then,” the Emerald Sword turned his featureless mask to focus on Xtopher, “I’ll repeat myself. What’s inside the briefcases is a surprise. Think about it. Analyze it. ‘Briefcases.’ Plural. There is more than the one. A lot more than one. I expect that to be clear enough for you. So here is my proposal. Accept the Union’s sage advice. You can end this war, you can save so many lives. All you have to do is surrender here and now, and your people won’t even have to worry about what’s inside those scary little briefcases. I believe our terms are reasonable, if you choose to hear them. Of course, if you simply reject my offer… well that’s entirely your choice now isn’t it.”
Ambassador Drogan and General Templar simply watched the different representatives bicker and argue over why the Immortal Empire reason's were not just and kept silent. Drogan waited until he would have a chance to speak which when it came he stood up and said with a slight grin on his face.
From a historic perspective, Drogan’s proposal would likely be regarded as the most even handed effort at improving the relations between these two most bitter adversaries. Peace is a very easy word to throw around after all; all men want peace, particularly the peace from those they oppose. But Drogan’s effort was remarkable in its earnesty and sincerity; while all other players in this game talked of peace in favourable terms, none had made so bold and honest of a proposal for how to accomplish it.
"Well I am pretty sure we are all aware that the Immortal Empire and the Tenebrae Empire are going to have a hard time finding peace. However may i propose a slow but most stable approach for a long term goal of peace?" A hologram like control scheme appeared on his hand as he lifted it up. "So far my Lord's empire has used this method to end aggression between two factions. Though the process takes some time I calculate that it would have a 75% success rate for bringing peace between the two nations minus the need for a pointless war."
Drogan the outstretched his hand and the hologram expanded to reveal a world which is currently in the mars empire territory as well as a zoomed image of one of the major cities that spand it's surface. Drogan then said looking at the Immortal Empire and Tenebrae representives.
"For this approach we simply make two colonies and place them right next to each other." A highlighted section that divided the two cities appeared in the image and Drogan continued.
“They are divided of course to prevent unwanted violence but in the middle section of this divider is another city one where the future generations of the two empires are put together. This causes some friction at first but after enough time we have seen that the populace (with some minor encouragement) slowly begin to accept one another and begin to for a more stable or peaceful relation to the other."
The highlighted section's influence slowly began to expand to the other cities as Drogan spoke. "This believe then begins to spread across the divider to the other sections and within several years begins to spread to other worlds thus removing the anger towards one another." Drogan then closed the hologram and said.
"If the Immortal Empire and Tenebrae are willing to perform this method then there might be a chance although a slow one mind you to spare the blood shed between the two."
For a brief moment, a notion of this scale was likely considered.
But then fate intervened. And then it all got messy.
--oOo—
Carnaith has a distinctly honour oriented culture, a throw over from the many battles in its illustrious history and the warrior’s code that had evolved from it. Without a proper understanding of the culture Reik originated from, what happened next would look only to be one thing: a blatant invitation for violence.
Reik pulled out his personal revolver, but anyone with quick eyes could see he was de-cocking it, and then taking the cylinder out, he then slammed his hand on the table and slid the pistol over to the union delegates; "hold on to that for me, will you?" he said, then giving a glare to the Emerald Sword. "If looks could kill..." said one of his assistants.
Now, from the perspective of an inhabitant of Carnaith, what was done here was thus: Reik was disarming. He was, in his own way, indicating both his strong dislike for the course of events that had lead them all to this room; the surprise attack, the massacres perpetrated by both sides, and these unsettling rumours of this so called Flux. But in unloading his revolver, he was also showing his unwillingness to fight further over the matter; this was a time for negotiation, not for bitter words which were now being flung by multiple parties.
Alas, few present had quite as fine a grasp on the finer points of Carnaith’s culture. What followed was suffice to say rather chaotic.
"GUN!"
The moment the revolver slipped from the holster, the Teruvian male was already moving... it hadn't even cleared the table by the time he was shoving the Therion Matriarch to the deck, with Victoria - the Teruvian Female - pulling the Jakeili down with her. At the shout, all five of the Therion males comprising of the 'security detatchment' that was the Matriarch's Thrall were moving... Immense, dinner-plate hooves slammed onto the table, causing items to bounce from the sheer weight as all five simply vaulted in table with the intent to full-body-check the Carnaith representatives to the ground and pin them... Five Therions, each nearly four hundred pounds of muscle rated for 4.3 Standard gravities and standing at an easy 7.5 Feet tall came at the Carnaithians like roaring freight trains. They were 'unarmed' in the sense that they didn't have swords or projectile weapons.... that didn't stop them from having the four-inch long sharpened claws on their finger tips as they put their immense weight on the Carnaith Representatives, one of them shouting; "Where is your security, HARGUN?!"
Multiple Skia phased in around the Coalition Therion males and grabbed them, each stopping the crushing weight and merely pushed them off of the Carnaith reps quickly. The black alien creatures then formed a wall around the Carnaith delegates and Hargun could be seen holding his head in his hand shaking his head.
When Reik pulled out his pistol revolver the two giant motionless royal guards of the Mars Empire raised their sheilds and moved them where Drogan and Templar would be most protected. They moved so fast that they looked like a blur and Drogan was slightly shocked before he could try to salvage the situation. Templar however remained unaffected and kept watch over the other reperesentatives. Once Drogan recovered from the sudden response of the royal guard he turned to Hargun and said with disappointment.
"Such a shame..... I had hoped things would have turned out better." He returned to his seat and not long after Templar raised his hand signaling the royal guard who moved back to their original positions. Their eyes however searched the other delegates keeping a watchful eye just in case the situation got even worse.
"ENOUGH!" he shouted. Everyone stopped. "THIS IS A PEACE CONFERENCE TREAT IT AS SUCH!"
Hargun grabbed the pistol and threw it away. As Reik sat down two of the Skia Hargun had assigned for security purposes phased in behind him and checked him over for other weapons, the whole delegations whispering to themselves.
Hargun was not amused.
"Settle down! They are a security measure for those who bring weapons to a peace conference..."
He gave Reik a very angry look.
"As for the Immortal Empire..." Hargun was silent for a moment.
"I invited you here to negotiate peace, not to dally about with your idiotic logic. Many w!re surprised by Harguns statement.
"Get out. You are no longer welcome here." At this a couple of Skia phased in and made gestures for the Emerald Sword to move back to his ship. "Go. I never want to see your likes again."
Peace, it seemed, was beginning to slip away.
Hargun turned to the Mars Empire "I’m sorry but your proposal will only fall on deaf ears..." If only they would listen.
So Hargun spoke. The chaos of the moment swallowed rationality; a chaos, oddly enough, derived from an earnest attempt at peace, and from a dramatic though equally earnest commitment to the process. Perhaps deaf ears was not the right choice of words; after all, only in the breath before, Hargun had commanded the eviction of the Immortal Empire’s representative from the proceedings. He felt a great sense of disillusionment about it all, at a moment like this; a great unification in this galaxy had seemed almost palpable earlier. He was a firm believer in the destiny of sentient races to come together under a common banner, a common ideal, but now the creeds that governed souls seemed vastly separated from each other.
Xtopher turned towards Drogan as the ambassador went about his description, listening intently to the full explanation before he would speak, his calm look and voice betraying the amount of frustration that the Emerald Sword had displayed.
"While I speak for the Tenebrean Empire in the fact that we would be willing to agree for peace and even more for a cease fire, They have made it clear that they are unwilling to go through with the proposal. They want a surrender and a weakly earned victory based on acts of terrorism, and implanted logic. I'm sorry, but that option is no longer a possibility." he nodded, clearly disappointed to a degree. But showing an amount of his appreciation for the gesture.
Defiant as any one of a specialized warrior’s caste may be, the Emerald Sword continued on calmly in spite of the Skia.
"I may be a guest here, but you did not invite me, you allowed me admittance. There is a difference. And as of right now you don't have the right to expel me from this meeting. Not yet. Not until I get Tenebrae's answer to my offer." He turned to Xtopher.
"This is your final answer?"
Xtopher turned towards the emerald sword, his voice and his skeletal face expressing what appeared to be pity of a genuine type.
"I pity your colonies, truly I do. You've allowed doom into them, but you've done it to yourself..." He said, Turning to look towards the emerald sword.
"But you’re not the only empire that can plant contingencies, i think that was a quote by someone in our history once, "Contingencies are a good thing." And we've had them in place sense the Cerabians fell and we observed your methods from afar, Ambrosious was a messy delivery of them, true. But in the end we did deliver. But if you've tried to weaponize what i think you have, then deploying it now would be a waste of our time... so, i have to decline... But if its of any consolation, I'm sorry, so sorry for what your people will have to go through for your foolishness." he said, sitting back down.
"Another thing to keep note of." He said, looking up one more time. "If our ancient files are true. it can infect bio-matter just as easily as it can metal." Before going silent and looking up at the the representative without another word.
Hargun looked at the Emerald Sword furiously.
"True we didnt invite you. Which means either two things are going to happen. The Immortal Empire is at war with the Union. You are currently on Union territory. You will either leave or you will be terminated right here and now. Which would you prefer? Do not take my easy going outlook as a sign of weakness, i can order your death as easily as a click of my fingers. Its due to my acceptance that you even got a chance to speak let alone get into Union territory. Now make a wise choice and leave."
As the room quieted down a few ongoing chuckles could be heard from the drakes, quickly going silent.
Laramar sat back in his chair cool composure on his face as he watched the brawling aliens and the strange phasic reatures.
Counsler Rowan seemed to be unphased by the revolver, the DHR was a very libertarian society and there citizians might argueably and collectively own more guns then any military organization. She paid it no mind, that and she wore a PSU not that anyone could tell unless they shot at her. She just sat there with her arms crossed as the Emerald Swordseemingly made more threats and hints to threats, her point of view anyway, and the entire original purpose of the meeting drowned in an avalanch of one star nation after another digging their holes deeper and deeper." I swear to bloody god, i am glad Deneb chose the location he did. As far away from all of you as fucking possible...” She said perhaps drowned out and under her breath.
Hess watched the chaos unfolding carefully having taken no action during any of it. The situation was deteriorating rapidly and it ws clear the Immortal empier had likely never intended to even negotiate on the current conflict.
"And as for you!" Hargun turned to Reik "Get out, i want another Carnaith rep here immediately. You have just disgraced the term peace conference. Your superiors will be noted on this. Now leave like the IE rep and have another replace you.”
The Therion Matriarch got up and pointed accusingly at Reik and then Hargun.
“This was a peace conference, was it not?” You have been ARGUING over all this entire time and now THOSE guys decide to break out a fucking weapon!" Shi snarled and slammed a fist on the table, "You want a PEACE conference, then you should make sure it REMAINS peaceful instead of overlooking a damnable REVOLVER. You claim to be able to keep galactic peace when you can't keep a simple slug-thrower off your own goddamn station?! Mr. Hargun, I'm quickly beginning to realize that you may not even have the power to keep your own STATION safe, let alone stop supposed galactic mass murderers!" She flung a hand at the Immortal Empire, "Half of the peoples here aren't even involved in this damned war, yet you've drug us here to listen to incesssant babbling back and fourth from a bunch of talking heads about who did what to who. WHY are we here, Mr. Hargun?!"
This was not a moment for a lesser man, and it was quite providential that Hargun was not one of that mold.
“I think,” he said slowly, keeping his composure far more in check than he imagined himself otherwise capable of, “that we ought to conclude our talks for the day. We can resume again in the morning,” he stated with such unsettling calmness that it held slightly more effect than one might have granted it at the hour. He shot a look at the empty seats where the Immortal Empire and the representative of Carnaith had sat so recently, before looking back at the Therion Matriarch. “Perhaps by then calmer heads will prevail.”
--oOo—
TO BE CONTINUED
Securing Support [Diplo] [MS]
Citadel Nemesis: Order of Hastrax Space
The Hastraxian diplomat waited patiently in the large hangar-shipyard complex of 'Citadel Nemesis', the station that had been chosen to host the Union diplomatic party that was due to dock shortly. The Union ship was already in the system and on its way to the station by sublight drives, by now inside the Citadel's interdiction perimeter, so he took a final look to make sure his garments were in order. More than he would wear day-to-day, but the grey - with a singular red angled stripe robes - were well-cleaned and he stood out by virtue of the golden embroidered details and icon marking him as a diplo
Operation Caulder [Celefra]
Yalantene Province: Provincial Occupation Government Base 189
Well it wasn’t like being in the megalopolis of Celefra Main city anymore.
The dry and course winds were still coming off the desert flats, driven by the windbreaks of the Caulder Mountain range. It was quite beautiful actually, but Reiner always liked the desert and dry lands back home, she looked up and at the snow covered peaks sticking out like a saw thumb from the desert and scrubland below them, the city if it could even be called that, sticking up to spoil some of her view.
Yalantene was the capital of the province by the same name, it was a small city and had most
Long Voyages [Trade] [Char]
*Be sure to double check our inventory* A line of text displayed in front of the crewman, unseen to the others around him. Making a swiping motion with his finger, the text on his Haptic Display disappearing to the left and out of sight as it was marked as read, the crewman moving to go over his list one final time before departure. As he walked down the hallways filled to the brim with cargo doors, boxes and barrels, running his eyes over the manifest and cargo, another crewmate walking in the opposite direction nodded up and gained his attention "Hey, Trikarta game tonight? Me and some of the boys got some extra credits to blow if you're in
Occult Contacts Pt.1 [Char] [Lost Girl]
AME059/9/13
Lost Star: Accirus System
The journey had taken two weeks to get to Lost Star, while not innately far the BSO force had taken the back routes known only to those of the less savoury variety. While this had increased the travel time it meant that anyone following them or trying to find them was at a major disadvantage, and given what they had encountered on the civilian liner nobody was taking any chances.
Still Lost Star awaited. Kirayee had been given access to the Anc net and had spent her days looking for information and contacts which may be useful to her and by extension Alison and the Exiles. It had taken her sometime but
Featured in Groups
© 2014 - 2024 Ancerious-Galactic
Comments9
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Yeah, that went south really quickly >__<