as written by Merte and barney_fife
Mikkel had very little time to react. It was only due to two things happening that he survived the officer's fire: firstly, his suit which could support extreme environmental situations and secondly, his quickly-thinking brain strain for his teleporting ability. Engulfed by fire, he almost immediately teleported back to the BP-2, arriving in a badly-damaged suit, but alive. Still, the endeavor wasn't without a cost: his rapid teleportation out of reflex and the shock of being hit by the plasma weapon even with the space suit on left two of his three brain parts temporarily unfunctional. In the middle of a random gangway, he got out of the suit, crawled a few meters and then laid down to rest until the shock would have passed.
---
Hvofor and the rest of the crew indeed did not understand Gemonese. When he noticed Major Tovar switching languages, he quickly calculated the possibilities for why he would do so. Either the foreigners were formed out of several different groups with several different languages for different occasions, or, most likely, they simply wanted to hide their intentions. Finally, Tovar switched back to the common language:"Your alien friends are boarding our ship? Explain yourself at once!", he demanded.
Hvofor responded after thinking about the possibilities of a crew member of his boarding a foreign vessel, let alone leaving this one. He quickly came to the conclusion that only the Agostret would have the capabilities necessary to do so and move around almost freely:"The member of my crew must be informed to return immediately. He has not been given any orders regarding boarding your ship or even leaving this one. To our defense, it must be stated that our crew is not equipped for first contact situations and therefore not trained for this. In short, you may experience more spontaneous or otherwise unsettling actions with us. Again, this would be a good reason for leaving this ship alone and meeting up in neutral space. Planning a first contact requires time and research as well as personal education and knowledge of etiquette; little of these are present at the moment."
He made a short pause. The Marines made him uncomfortable, but his logic center could not comprehend the danger they were posing because he had simply not seen any of them in action. It was the uncertainty of the whole situation that stressed the Barey's brains out. He thought about the Rebet at the acceleration controls. If his calculations were right, a simple command of the Rebet's tentacles would cause the wormhole drive to completely fry every technological instrument relying on mental in- or output in the ship as well as causing a disturbance in the surrounding hyperfields. If they were wrong, who knows what would happen..? At least the Rebets who mentally saved the crucial data and were now partly hiding in the ship could possibly carry their information out of here alive and start anew somewhere in this galaxy. They were trained for building an outpost after all and if found by the foreigners, could easily just state that they were resting due to all the stress put on them.
Hvofor continued:"But for now, let me meet your superiour. You can expect me to be the most cooperative around here since I am superiour in most aspects compared to the rest of the crew."
____
The flight from the BP-2 to the Iconoclast Battleship was otherwise fairly uneventful. It was also rather short. Moving from one ship to the next.
Upon arrival to the Iconoclast battleship, the massive hangar deck encompassed the Condor transport, large blast doors closed behind them once they were inside, and Imperial Marines, clad in heavy combat armor and armed with disruptor rifles took position behind cover and waited for the group to disembark from the Condor.
The main doors opened with a hiss, allowing the air from the Battleship to pour inside, 89 percent nitrogen and 21 percent Oxygen, with various trace gases and materials in the air.
The Major slowly stepped off, and gestured for the alien behind him to follow. In contrast to the interior of the BP-2, the Iconoclast was dark, grimey, and suited for war, with it's austere design choices, harsh white lighting, and exposed conduits. Once they were on the Hangar deck, Inviere emerged from the main door, with a trio of Command officers in tow. She had just returned from the CIC, where she was giving the
Punishment and Revenge new orders.
She surveyed Hvofor for a moment with her own eyes, moving up and down as she made a face. In truth the Xeno disgusted her, another notch on the belt of the enemies of the Empire. She knew the Emperor wouldn't stand for it, but she had to humor them so she could acquire their technology, and learn the location of their home worlds.
The Universe would have one less Xeno filth to plague it.
"This way." Inviere said, as she turned towards the doors of the hangar deck, where she would lead the alien to the main conference room. The hall was long, lined with doors that lead to various other parts of the ship, and lastly, a door that led into a large conference room, with a wood trim table, Imperial flags, a large central holographic screen, a pitcher of water, and a small window that looked out into the vast gulf of space.
Inviere slowly lowered herself into a seat at the end of the table, and poured herself a glass of ice water. She took a small sip, before she set the glass down with an audible thunk. Then she cleared her throat.
"Welcome aboard my vessel." She said, picking up a manila folder with several documents inside. "We'll start simple." She said. "You've wandered into what is for all intents and purposes one of the most heavily fortified and secured sections of this galaxy." She explained. "You have technology that is unlike anything we have encountered, and your very being; well. It's intriguing to say the least." She added, scratching some notes on a notepad.
"What do you call yourself, what species do you call yourselves? Tell me about them, tell me about you." She said. "In exchange, I will answer a question about us that you may have, we call this
quid pro quo."
____
During the transit from one ship to the other, Hvofor started quietly analyzing the foreigners' mentalities by their surroundings. He saw heavy armour all over the place; not only the guards but also the technology and every tiny little last screw spoke of the cold and relentless taste of steel. In his mind, Hvofor recited a phrase he had picked up somewhere: "Protection and fear are on the same side of a mindset." Hvofor wasn't sure if it was the humanoids who were afraid or if they themselves were a species establishing hierarchies by fear-inducing. Then again, metal could cause comfort to a species without a noticable exoskeleton. Either way, Hvofor concluded to not let fear dominate his own senses.
His suit told him the consistence of the gas. For him, it would be a somewhat noticeable but not necessarily inacceptable low level of oxygen. Right now, he was using all three major brain strains which meant an overall higher need of oxygen. If he let one of his components rest, the oxygen level in the ship would be all right with his metabolism. On the other hand, it could possibly slow him down mentally a bit. Not opening his suit could be an indicator of weakness to the others, given that they pretty surely knew about the atmospherical properties aboard the BP-2. Ultimately, he decided to just keep his suit on and pretend that this was standard protocol for his people. Also, the humanoids could not possibly know whether he was endangered by any of the smaller amounts of gases in the air.
He spotted several symbols along the way. Were they used to provoke or to prevent fear? He could not decide. After they arrived at the large holographic screen, Hvofor came to the final conclusion that they must be heavily relying on visuals indeed. He dubbed them 'people of the eye' which would be a fitting description so far.
The individual Inviere started talking again. After listening to her demand, he thought that short but precise answers could be the only way to come to an agreement, seeing that the militaristic tone and the lack of any formalities made the "eyes'" hostility or at least their defensive behaviour rather clear.
He shortly thought about Inviere's statement of this being one of the most fortified sectors of their people, possibly revealing the limits of the humanoids' means - or was it a lie?
"I am Hvofor. We are the followers of Midaarons call. We did not intend to beach here. We are peaceful. Still, we do not like to have our technologies inspected by you as you would not like us to inspect yours respectively, I assume. If not handled correctly, not only our vessel but also its surroundings could be at danger. No one likes to be at danger here, I assume?"
His repetitive style was not only the result of not yet perfectionised translators but also the intentional use of the same patterns over and over again. According to Midaaron research, animals often repeat the same actions and by that intend to standing their point. Hvofor played a dangerous game here, a game of dominance on the enemies' field, but what had he got to lose?
"Now for my question: how do we part ways soon without any side regretting this encounter?"
____
Inviere scratched several notes in Anquietas on her notepad, the pen scraping against paper, making audible scratching sounds as she took notes on the alien's behavior. She described it's perceived demeanor, which she saw as obstinant, of course what Inviere perceived as obstinant could be the alien's normal psychological demeanor.
As Hvofor answered her question, her pen scratched more furiously on the paper. The
Anquietas glyphs written in bold blue ink for future review by her superiors.
She was thinking, thinking about the obstinant alien before her, thinking about where they came from, considering the worlds they inhabited and the technology they possessed. This Xeno had audacity, the willingness to defy it's betters and take risks. She scribbled even more furiously, a notation that these aliens and the Aschen Empire could not possibly peacefully coexist, and their assured destruction was the only viable alternative. All of this was not likely to go beyond notations on paper, Isambard Prince their emperor was not as unstable or violent as his predecessor, Inviere knew this. But she also knew that Prince was meeting with the Scatterran Hegemony, and that Inviere was in control of the direction these proceedings could go.
"You are peaceful; I can respect that. You must also be capable of defending yourselves I presume. Because a peaceful species cannot exist in a hostile Galaxy." She said. "We have a desire for peace, but we are prepared for war, but we also understand that it is Humanity's place to rule the stars."
There was a brief chime at the door, and it slid open, there was another older woman, maybe thirty years older than Inviere. She was shorter, with red hair and a formal dress. Inviere simply gestured for her to enter, and she promptly took a seat at the table besides Inviere.
"Pardon my tardiness." The woman said. "I Bifrosted here as quickly as I could when I learned of this contact situation."
Inviere offere a slight nod. "Don't worry, Ambassador, you haven't missed anything." She said, turning back to Hvofor. "This is Ambassador Draylock, she will handle any formal diplomatic inquiries. As to peacefully parting ways, you and your crew will be allowed to leave when we have finished here."
Inviere then nodded to Draylock, who cleared her throat to speak. "Inviere's notations described a certain apprehension and hesitancy here. You expressed disdain at our security protocols, and a refusal to give us the opportunity to understand your people even more." Draylock said calmly. "Under the previous administration; it would have been cause to exterminate your species." She said. "That is the reality of the situation; fortunately that administration is no longer in power. The new Emperor seeks friends; allies in his fight for order in this galaxy and beyond. We live surrounded by enemies who would stop at nothing to destroy us. I would hope that you and your people would not be counted among them. Now; to that end is there anything I can do to make this meeting more comfortable?"
____
Hvofor quietly waited for his turn to speak.
..it is humanity's place to rule the stars..
No, the translator hadn't failed him, and the intentions of the humans to strive for domination and expansion became very clear when Ambassador Draylock reported that they were surrounded by enemies who would like to see them dead. It all made sense and confirmed most of the assumptions Hvofor had made even prior to his transfer to the humans' ship. Withholding information, he thought, has proven to be an extremly risky move but also the right one. As the ambassodor had mentioned, a war of extermination was not unthinkable for the 'Eyes'. On the other hand, there was no way for them to find out where the BP-2 had even come from.
He took a closer look at the human. Her head was covered in red hair. The Barey remembered red to being a signal colour for a broad range of animals for fertility but also danger. So far, no information on this field had come through to Hvofor concerning humans, but he felt like the way she talked she could obviously be a source of growing danger.
They had an emperor. A concept also found in the animal kingdom but not in any higher developed species encountered in the Midaaron Realm before. Were species outside of the Realm generally emotionally driven, war-seeking creatures? Sure, they proved to be intelligent enough to build enormous spaceships, but on an instinct-driven level for dominance. Maybe the unregulated developement of their genes, unaffected by any higher power, had led to this. Chaos, bloodshed and rivalry. They didn't fit into the Midaaron way of life where everyone had his place and accepted knowingly why he was there. Hvofor's position in the crew surely carried most of the responsibility for the mission and he could give orders to almost anyone, but it was less an act of power than him simply being the most suited for directing the mission and supervising everything. Going against his rules was not a strong affront if it meant doing the right thing, but the Barey never gave orders anyone onboard disagreed with neither did for example the Rebet think that they would know a better way of doing things. The Agostret's extravagant actions displayed part of this really well.
This in mind, Hvofor started to speak:"I don't think you are in the position to threaten my species at all. However, it would be beneficial if your crew left our ship and let it proceed to unclaimed realms. If necessary, I will send for an ambassador who can stay with you and later on continue our interspecial communication. We do not claim this galaxy, only a single planet outside of your territory but within our tolerable living environment requirements."
____
Draylock studied the creature before her, exchanging written notes with Inviere, the two of them nodding slightly as they exchanged their notations. It wasn't much longer before another audible alarm began to blare, red lights flashing in the corner of the room as the intercom blared.
"Action stations, action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill; repeat, this is not a drill!"
The alarm continued to blare through the conference room, the door to the conference hall was opened fairly suddenly as one of the many officers stepped in, offering a crisp salute.
"Chairman you're needed in CIC." The man said, as Inviere quickly rose from her seated position. "Sitrep." She replied.
The Lieutenant looked down to a piece of paper, before he directed his eyes back to the chairman.
"Hostiles outside of the Diamond Shoals red line defensive zone, they've engaged the IDF, and the Fleet of Inner Knowledge. The fighting's died down but the Imperial Viceroy is being called, and we're supposed to rendezvous with the Fleet Admiral to coordinate defensive operations within the Diamond shoals, including prepping the Governors for mustering civilian populations for militia duty."
The Chairman gave a long pause as she brought her attention back to the alien in the room, as well as Ambassador Draylock.
She had to make a quick decision as to how to proceed, and so she leaned forward and spoke quietly to the Lieutenant. "Evacuate the alien ship and detain the crew, take them under heavy guard to the quarantine facility in Picon, make sure as many as possible survive. Hold the ship here, and inform the IIA that we have some specimens for study and interrogation. Put that one in the brig until I decide how to proceed."
The Lieutenant offered a crisp chest salute, before turning to leave, as Inviere turned to Hvofor. "Excuse me, something important requires my attention, I've prepared temporary accommodations for you. The Ambassador will accompany you while I handle this crisis, please follow all instructions exactly for your safety." She said, before she turned to move quickly out the door, with the Lieutenant in tow.
A moment after Inviere turned to leave, a pair of Marines stepped inside, the audible trill of powering weapons could be heard as the Ambassador stood up and away.
The pair of Marines kept their weapons trained on the Alien, as they slowly started to approach it. "Come with us." One of them said. "No sudden movements."
---
Aboard the BP-2 the men were for the most part continuing their inspection of the alien vessel uneventfully, until the sergeant received his new orders.
They were switching tactics, moving about to locate the crew, demanding they follow in an orderly fashion to the airlock under threat of execution. The Marine sergeant in what was considered to be the command room drew his weapon at Rauf.
"Move away from the consoles and approach me slowly! You're being evacuated from this ship. We have accommodations for you prepared." The Sergeant ordered, as a pair of Marines came in behind him.
____
Hvofor couldn't understand what the officer said, but apparently, it was important enough to instantly change the whole situation. The short, yet heated dialogue came to an abrupt end as Inviere ordered him to follow the ambassador. A ruse, again? A play, a ploy, a diversion? Hvofor thought about Rauf and what he had ordered him to do. I was quite possible that a similar process had started on the BP-02: all crewmembers detained for safety reasons. Separated, the Midaarons, especially the weaker-of-mind Rebets, would not survive long. While they don't usually need to be seen after, a situation like this requires guidance and reassurement from stronger-minded Midaarons.
He followed the ambassador, but after a short distance spoke while walking:"It is in your best interest to not remove my crew from the ship or it happens." Hvofor didn't specify. Such a vague threat could get him killed, but as far as he could tell, things weren't getting better for him. Cooperation, usually one of his better qualities, must be cast aside when dealing with this species. There was no cooperation, or at least not so much, shown from their side, so mimicking the actions of the other side could possibly lead to finding a way to better communicate with each other. If violence is should be the language, so be it.
---
Onboard the BP-2, Rauf said something similar to Hvofor. Not moving an inch, he simply stated:"It is not recommended for our safety to remove myself from the console, neither should any of my crew be removed from the vessel. Our safety includes your safety."
The BP-2, stuck without a functioning drive, barely looked like a threat. Nothing onboard was explosive or even intended to be dangerous per se, but the effects an overheating wormhole drive could have on a hyperphysical sandbank like this were unforeseeable for Rauf.
____
While the Ambassador moved with Hvofor and the Marines through the hallway to allow Inviere to attend the duties on the Bridge, she couldn't help but catch the Alien's request.
"What exactly is going to happen?" The Ambassador inquired, as the Iconoclast Battleship pulled away from the BP-2, and the Approaching Reverence II, which was now in position directly over the alien craft.
This was visible out the small porthole through the Starboard airlock, barely but it was there. "I would strongly advise anything that could further inflame this situation, I assure you it will blow over if full cooperation is given, escalating the situation will result in some fairly extreme measures." The Ambassador warned. "The Military's threats are not to be taken lightly, if you work with me, I will do my best to navigate your people through this crisis, and see you returned to your vessel, and escorted out of the Empire. But I cannot do anything while you and your people give vague threats, and resist." The Ambassador said, as the group reached a large blast door that read
Detention Block
There was still commotion going on inside the massive vessel, squads of eight to ten soldiers were running past them, moving to their posts aboard the ship.
The Ambassador was silently considering the situation while the Marine was navigating the keypad for the Detention block, the door unlocked with a click and a loud buzz, and then opened, two more Marine guards stood at the end of the hall, and one of the large holding cells could be seen, door open and ready for it's guest.
---
Rauf was the first to feel the Aschen's fury, as the Marine sergeant was given explicit orders to execute any alien that refused to comply with his orders.
"Move away from the console or I will shoot you! This can either go smoothly or get bloody fast!" The Marine acquired his target, the holographic sights highlighted Rauf and the rifle's scope zeroed him in as the Marine took several cautious steps forward.
Another Marine screamed. "Frakking Xenos! Kill them all Sarge! Just kill them all and nuke the damn ship!" He came up from a different direction with his weapon drawn.
"Gods-damnit you Xeno prick! I don't want a gods-damned International incident, just move away from the console! Now!"
The second Marine opened fire, his weapon barking it's report through the room, a searing hot flash and bolt of charged particles moved towards the Console, and the Alien's tentacled appendage at near light speed, tens of thousands of degrees Kelvin contained within a plasma enveloped charged particle bolt which was capable of liquefying stout metals, and causing severe damage to flesh.
"Hold your fire!" The Sergeant screamed. "Hold your gods damned fire!"
____
Hvofor's answer was short but clear:"You do not want to find out the hard way." Inside, he had already mostly given up on himself and the crew, but one third of him did not surrender. What might seem to the 'Eyes' like resistance was in Hvofor's mind the most basic right of every life form. Free passage, neutrality, non-interference as long as one didn't actively attack or hinder the other. Neither was given and the mostly polite and well-meaning sounding words of Inviere and the ambassador didn't convince the Barey in the slightest anymore. Like most intelligent life, though, Hvofor planned on not going out without struggle, one way or another. Still, one of his logic centers compelled him to try to survive and somehow send notice of these aliens to a Midaaron homeworld, be it as unlikely as it sounded right now.
The cell in which he would be sent didn't look welcoming but it appeared to Hvofor that it might be designed to displease humans or humanoid life forms. He thought that as long as the 'Eyes' didn't know what a Midaaron likes or dislikes he could be fine..
---
Thoughts are fast. Really fast. But light is quite a bit quicker, one might say, so Rauf didn't stand much of a chance when he was shot at. His mind sent one quick impulse just as the beam hit his tentacle. Had he not been prepared, nothing would have happened but Rauf losing one tentacle. But the order had been clear: the removal of Rauf's mental connection to the device would instantly activate the hyperspacial transformers to the maximum. Hvofor hadn't been sure what would happen exactly if it came to this, but chaos was certain. With the death of his appendage, Rauf passively activated the engines which were deeply stuck in the hyperspacial sandbank. However, Midaaron flesh wasn't the only thing falling victim to the laser beam: the interface sizzled and evaporated partly. No one knew what kind of effect this would have on the order that went through the communication currents of the ship.
For 5 seconds, nothing happened. Then, Rauf's burned tentacle separated itself from the main body and fell to the floor. He'd grow a new one.. if he survived long enough. A part of his brain strings released hormones to deal with the shock and the producer organ, a specific part of the body of every Midaaron, activated to seal the fresh wound.
What happened then could be described as someone holding a strong fan into a sandbank. The engines howled, trying to find a hypercurrent which they would usually use to create a wormhole with. Finding only resistance and unknown matter, they disturbed the spacial integrity of their closest surroundings. Not one Midaaron moved as the engines overheated and finally went out with a big energy surge going through the entire ship, causing power outages everywhere. The whole vessel's electronic devices went black, rendered broken, fused inside. Only the vital systems like the air supply went back online after the shock.
The shock could be felt and registered on more than only the usual dimensions: the ripple in hyperspace left the ship in all directions. Onboard, mutants like Mikkel could easily detect it, but he was out the moment the shock passed him. His mutant brain string, however, registered the blast and tried to leech on the energy, revitalizing Mikkel faster than he would usually have by himself.
After the shock had passed, not physical harm was done yet to any of the crews except for Rauf..
