Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Aschen Sector

"Alien craft is showing no sign of resistance." One pilot hailed as he flew his Raptor Talon starfighter past the alien craft.

Hanley quietly watched her display, turning slightly so she could face her tactical officer. "Bring us in, open the main bays and prepare to draw in the alien vessel."

The officer offered a nod, and the order was directed to helm.

The massive Reverence II slowly banked, and started to face the alien craft, while a single Condor assault transport banked around the small, hundred or so meter craft, it's pilots looking for openings with which to enter.

A few moments later, and the Reverence II was on top of the small craft, like a gaping maw, ship bays on it's ventral side opened up, exposing a large interior bay where the Leppi craft was going to be housed. Gravity distorted, and a tractor beam began attempting to pull the ship closer to the Reverence.

Massive turbodisruptor emplacements swiveled about, easily seen from the small craft as it was so close to the gargantuan Aschen cruiser.

A greeting party was being assembled, several hundred Imperial Marines, and Adepts of war were preparing to move into the bay, and greet their new alien prisoners.
 
“Woah, it’s like they’re swallowing us!” The orange Leppi murmured. “Pull in the sun net so it doesn’t get damaged.” The largest suggested. As the gigantic ship approached the enormous wafer thin disc shrank back into the size of a human-sized bundle strapped to the side of one of the pods, as a Leppi inside quickly pulled on a single rope to draw it all in. "The sun net was a success! Great job Lastimosa!" Biyu said happily.

The Leppi had a brief celebration as they were brought into the grasp of the Aschen capital ship. "What do you think those big sticks are? They kinda look like confetti cannons." Lastimosa said to the others. "Maybe we'll find out, but I doubt it." The largest replied. "Alright everyone, lets all get together now." There was nothing on the ship that could say where any kind of entrance would be but if any nearby ships had a focused scanner of any kind it would be easy to see a concentration of life signs in the largest cocoon which also happened to be closest to the entrance of the enormous vessel.

"I guess I was wrong, they're having us come inside after all. Do you think it's like a Chorda ship?" The purple one asked. "Maybe it's some kinda cross between Chorda and human. They're speaking human, after all." Biyu replied. "I've only ever seen one human ship like this but it was nowhere near so big."

"Get ready to open the gate." The apparent leader advised, prompting Lastimosa (the orange one) to move over to the wall and take a small string from it, which would open the side of the village to get them outside.
 
As the alien ship moved into the hangar bay of the Reverence II, the escorting Raptor Talon and Condor VTOL strike craft banked away, scattering in multiple different directions. While tractor beams slowly guided the mass of cocoons into place, docking clamps stretching out and grasping onto them, securing them in place as the hangar bay pressurized, and the armored doors latched shut.

A deafening clunk echoed through the hangar bay, and an inner set of armored doors opened up, revealing dozens of Aschen soldiers, whom quickly began to pour into the massive room.

"Go go go! Move it people! Secure that craft!"

Dozens soon turned to hundreds, as the Marines moved into position, taking cover behind crates, bulkheads, docked fighter craft, catwalks, and armored panels that were pulled up from the floor.

Hundreds of clicks filled the bay, along with the clamor of the soldiers as weapons were prepped, and zeroed in on the craft.

If they could perceive the cocoons opening up, as the gates opened up, the men outside readied their weapons, the air thick with tension as they waited for whatever alien beings to emerge. Adepts of war took the point, ten of them to be precise, each carrying their heavy rifles, while the two that flanked the outside of their formation readied their chain-swords.

All eyes would be on the emerging leppi, of course, with each Aschen marine clad head to toe in full Cuirasse powered armor, which was a full EVA Combat system that was entirely self contained, and hermetically sealed. Armored visors obscured their faces, and the armored plates gave them an almost mechanical look, the towering powered armor of the War Adepts did little to dispel the illusion that, to the untrained eye, this could have been a machine race.

"Nice and slow! Limbs where we can see them!" A marine sergeant closest to the ship called out.
 
The cocoons of the vessel hovered soundlessly in the hanger just a foot off the ground, almost completely motionless save for the frontmost pod. On that pod was a small window through which little could be seen. That window began to expand, accelerating as it opened. When it opened up enough it slowed down, and from within could be seen fifteen child-sized and very fluffy aliens that bore quite the resemblance to moths. All of them had each of their four arms close to their chest as was a natural posture for them, mostly motionless save for one currently pulling on a string which operated the door.

When the door was fully opened the Leppi could fully see everyone outside. "They kinda look like those automatons humans sometimes have." One of them whispered in their alien tongue, almost inaudible from even close distance. "Or like Watu constructs." Another replied quietly. In their front was the Leppi who's face was previously visible on the moon sized disc from earlier, who had her arms raised high in greeting - and also surrender. She made no sound, with what she quickly imagined were weapons of this quantity pointed at them she was suddenly paralyzed with fear.

The fifteen visible Leppi all stood stock still for a few moments before following suit to Biyu as they very very slowly raised their arms into the air.
 
Hanley remained mostly quiet during the tram ride to the main hangar bay, the soft hum of the machinery filling the cabin as she considered her next moves. Her eyes flitted briefly to the surveillance display, they were small insectoid aliens, certainly a first. It had been many years since the Empire had encountered non-humanoid aliens, save for the Andromedan Matokey.

There was an audible hiss, and the tram came to a stop, pressures equalized and the doors to the tramway slid open. The first contact protocols of the Empire were being executed to the letter; assess the relative strength of the aliens, while displaying military might.

Hanley frowned slightly, these aliens appeared frail, and could be easily conquered once the location of their home world was learned.

"Instruct Lieutenant Scorpius to prepare for interrogation." Hanley ordered, and her adjutant nodded, picking up the phone situated near the door.

Slowly she moved, stepping out of the tramway as armored doors slid open, revealing the commotion before her. She smoothed down the dark grey, and dark blue uniform and adjusted it's pleats, her rank, and her station was clearly displayed upon her collar, two diamond shaped, golden rank insignia denoted the rank of admiral.

The soldiers cleared a small path for her, like parting a sea of men, and with a subtle gesture, the men all relaxed, but still kept their weapons poised upon the newcomers.

"You're either very bold, or very stupid creatures, if you have any form of intelligence at all." Hanley commented, coming into view from behind a towering adept of war. "The reason you weren't simply blown out of the stars is because I'm curious as to what drove you to this place, where do you come from?"

Hanley stopped roughly five feet away from the group of Leppi, signalling two of her Marines to approach.

"Which one of you is the leader?"
 
Most of the Leppi turned to Hanley when she became visible, and it was clear from the get go by the way she held herself she was some kind of leader. Maybe she was the one controlling all these automatons, or maybe she was some kind of servant as well to someone else. All they knew was she was human and perhaps the soldiers were not. However, most of them made no response when she began speaking, as they had no understanding of what she was saying.

Only Biyu, the only one among them who could speak english without casting silver tongue, could understand the human woman. She looked up at the lady into her eyes, frowning slightly herself as she spoke. Did, did this human not know of the Leppi, or was she being crass? In any case she answered only after the second question. She took a single, careful step forward in an effort to avoid provoking the automatons. "I am the leader. We are Leppi, we charted here from the Eustea system; we came looking for trade. I apologize for the intrusion, we were not aware of a population this big, this far beyond the veil." She spoke with a somewhat thick accent that made her speech a little difficult to understand, but thankfully she spoke somewhat slowly so she could still be heard clearly.
 
Hanley listened quietly to their responses. She considered their word, where they claimed to be from, all information that the Admiral surely wanted to know, to learn from these strange creatures. But she also wanted to know what made them tick, their anatomy, their brainwave patterns.

"Eustea System..." Hanley replied. "We know of no such system in our star charts, would you provide us with your navigational data?" She asked, after-all it never hurt to ask nicely, and exploit the aliens later.

"Trade, hm?" Hanley added. "And what exactly do you have that would be of interest to us?"

She would play their game for the moment, and by raising her hand in a subtle hand gesture, the men surrounding them all began to lower their weapons.
 
“We left all of our things inside the village, so we wouldn’t spook you. I do have a map on my opaline though if you wanna see.” Biyu explained calmly. This human was dressed kind of strangely, but the thread seemed to be of remarkable quality for a human. Perhaps these people would be good trading partners.

“Oh yes, trade! We’ve got Solt, we’ve got rare and exotic plants, and...we’re about the best tailors you’ll ever see!” She told the much larger female happily. “We offer fair prices as well, guaranteed!” The Leppi all chattered in agreement, able to understand only what their friend was saying without being able to understand the human - but getting a good gist of the conversation anyway.
 
The Admiral approached the strange creature carefully, regarding it with an eye of caution, but she had to know where they came from, so she made the choice to approach. One hand subconsciously moved to smooth down her uniform, The Aschen were a fairly traditional people, and they opted to make their officers duty uniforms out of wool.

Certainly an odd practice for an interstellar civilization.

"I have no interest in what you have here." The woman said frankly. "What interests me is where you came from, you can either show us this information willingly... or we can take it from you." She said, casting a brief nod to one of the marines behind her, who nodded in response and turned to leave the hangar bay.

"Come with me, all of you, we have much to discuss." Hanley said coldly, as another marine whispered in her ear.

"The aurora chair is ready."
 
The left antenna on the small moth-like alien twitched once the admiral came within a meter, and after a moment of studying her up close, Biyu slowly raised one hand. From that hand a small but bright light formed in the spindly grey hand, from which an apparition of a curious stone and crystal tablet formed. A small hum came from the small xeno as a holographic star-map appeared showing a small cluster of stars - about 100 or so - with one being much brighter than the others. "Here ya go, the brighter star is where I'm from. Only Xiao and I are from there though, I don't have the map from where anyone else came from." The other of the antennae twitched this time as the small creature held up the tablet for the Admiral to take.

"I mean-I don't see why you'd think we wouldn't give you any information on our own." Biyu laughed nervously, her bottom arms pressed into her thorax as she waddled forward on shakey legs. Both antennae twitched as a marine whispered in Hanley's ear, and she gestured with one hand for the others to follow; though Biyu's one question could probably wait for a couple of seconds - namely for the human to take the map. For what reason she could possibly want to know about some backwater world though was beyond the diminutive Leppi.
 
Something odd happened in the moments between when Hanley took the map, and when she turned to lead them somewhere. The shift was a mystery, an anomaly, a subtle but unnoticeable shift in perception. Some of the weapons the soldiers carried were different, and some of the insignia, and patches on their uniforms were different, specifically the addition of a large V emblazoned in red over a black phoenix motif.

Hanley's demeanor changed as well, the hostility had seemed to disappear as she gestured for the creatures to follow, so she could lead them through the large halls of the oddly unchanged Reverence II towards a nearby conference room.

"Please understand, we have spent the past thirty years in relative isolation, since the great war, we have focused our attention inwards, so any interaction with alien species is met with skepticism, and some hostility." The Admiral explained, as she walked, her footfalls echoing on the metal paneled floor.

She stopped only for a moment, to see if the unusual creatures were still following.
 
Turning, Hanley would be greeted with the sight of the little aliens waddling after her on their stumpy legs. The talker, Biyu, spoke up in response. "Oh that was my assumption anyway. Don't feel too bad, we've met lots of backwater folks who get culture shock from meetings. You're just so advanced, we didn't think that'd be a factor." Several of the leppi, giving up on trying to keep up with the long-legged humans, pushed their lower arms out to the sides and lifted their wings slightly. Short pillars of light emanated from the bottom parts of their bodies - feet, hands, armpits, and wingpits - and lifted them into the air to hover. As some did it, more followed suit, until all of them were hovering in tow.
 
The woman paused a moment, did these creatures just insinuate her culture as backwater? The thoughts ran briefly through her mind as she lowered herself into the chair at the end of the table, and splayed her hands out on the table, before steepling her fingers in front of her.

"If you're implying we're a backwater culture, the Aschen Empire was a galactic superpower prior to the war, our civilization ruled the Galaxy across tens of thousands of light years, our armies were feared across countless alien species." The Admiral remarked, settling into her chair, and gesturing for the small alien creatures to sit, or at least if they were capable of doing so, before pressing a remote, a large screen descending from the ceiling.

"Sit, settle, whatever it is you do."

Hanley cleared her throat, and then tried to present a friendly face.

"You mentioned trade? Tell me about the things you have to offer, and what you would like in return?"
 
Biyu lifted both hands and materialized a small abacus-like hologram in front of her, using it to run a mystery calculation. "My mistake, didn't notice until now how far we are past charted space." That was, odd, though. That'd mean either humans were transplanted around the universe somehow, or that human history goes further back than recorded. Humans were weird, so such a thing wasn't out of character.

Regardless of implications, these were folks who could trade, and a trade's a trade! So the leppi had no reason not to comply with the request to sit. Their stumpy legs lifted and they rested themselves against the ground, the platforms of managlass they generated for themselves fading and vanishing so their full (but not substantial) weight was rested against the floor.

"Yeah, we're a trading village. We conduct speculative trade on various worlds; and recently I got the idea to leave our normal routes. We went, further out of our normal route than we thought." Biyu waved her four spindly hands and many projections emanated in between her and Hanley, each displaying a realistic image and description of the various wares they had on their craft. "Didn't list it yet but we've also got that sun sail. It's good for when you can't open direct communications with people! Also scares off void serpents."
 
The Imperial Admiral quietly surveyed the wares displayed before her. Her regard moved across each image as she studied, and catalogued them in her head. Something that Biyu mentioned seemed to pique the Admirals interest, and it showed subtly across her face, the strangeness of these humans more apparent, as eyes wiser beyond their years flashed briefly behind a well kept visage.

"You mention you veered off course into uncharted space. I'm curious." The woman said, bringing her hands across the table to interlace her fingers in front of her. "You mentioned that you veered from your normal routes, deep into what you call uncharted space." She commented, pausing for a moment to consider that the Empire had been charting the surrounding stars for a millenia.

"Uncharted relative to?" She asked, tilting her head slightly quizzically as the screen that descended from the celining flickered to life, displaying a three-dimensional representation of the Galaxy. A galaxy that this particular band of humans named Insula Avallonis. A name that flickered in their native text above the representation of the galaxy.

"How far beyond your point of origin did you traverse, can you show us?" Hanley asked curiously, her demeanor softening somewhat.
 
Biyu leaned in and studied the projection for a time, some of the others doing so and vibrating their wings rhythmically in succession while looking at each other, making a soft thrumming noise. In short order, Biyu looked up at the Admiral and locked eyes. "None of this is familiar." She confessed. Truly, not a single constellation lined up with any of their own star charts. This presented a rather unsettling possibility - that they were further from any other tribe than any had ever gone before.

More thrumming wings could be seen and heard before Biyu spoke again. "None of us has seen a star chart anything like this." The translator Biyu wore didn't allow much in the way of tonal shift, but her body language seemed rather agitated.
 
Hanley craned her neck a moment to watch Biyu closely, the creature seemed unfamiliar with the star charts, and the displays laid out before them. Perhaps these creatures had come from further out than the Imperial Admiral initially surmised.

“These star charts are everything within two radii of Imperial space, including the galactic center, and territories beyond the Galactic rim.” Hanley explained, she had become visibly more curious, and seemed to lean forward ever slightly while looking at the map, but her concentration was broken by the chime of the door. An Imperial officer clad in a sinister black and red looking uniform offered a brief salute, before giving their report.

“Admiral, I have command holding on comms, they wish to initiate formal first contact with these creatures, EVE has our next jump coordinates.”

Hanley offered a crisp nod, and then turned back to Biyu.

“Looks like our leaders wish to meet with you.” She said, with a slight defeated tone, slowly, the woman stood from her chair.

“We will provide transport further into Imperial space, if you do not have any objections.”
 
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