SLYNES - Swirly Lights Yonder, a Never Ending Story

The Aiweh establish their first extrasolar colony, Thegoth, while their exploration efforts continue in the local sector. A new army is formed on the home world, composed of well-bred and well-trained young warriors.

The entity known as "One" continues to slumber as autonomic systems harvest material from the system it inhabits. The Amoeba home world finally experiences a measure of relief from the turmoil One left in its wake. The ecosystem of the planet begins to stabilize slowly, nurtured dutifully by the colonial organisms guiding it. The diseases brought on by these repaired lifeforms are steadily weeded out by new antibiotic enzymes.

The Bako Tellians complete a series of repairs in the aftermath of the hurricane systems that devastated their home world of Bako, easing tensions somewhat amongst the common folk, though the tension still resides just under the surface. A massive campaign of military recruitment has sprung up across the Bako Tellian empire, conjuring up an army of locals in each of the two colonies as well as a new force to keep the peace and help with relief efforts on the home world. A new fleet is completed, as well, orbiting Bako and finalizing its preparations towards future exploration efforts. Catching the Tellians quite off-guard, an alien fleet arrives near Tounis, and though it holds its position in the outskirts of the system, it appears to be maintaining a stance of readiness of action, studying the Bako fleet present in-system.

The Capricocials found their first extrasolar colony and press on with their exploration of the local sector. New mining techniques developed on the home world pay off with larger usable lodes reaching the refineries. Unfortunately, a series of strange storms have displaced folks in the shallow areas, causing slight unrest among the citizenry.

The mighty Hive Ship, home to the entire remaining population of the Distopteran species, finally arrives at its first destination. As the Hive awakens to begin work harvesting material here, the Queen begins to study the planetary bodies occupying the system. Hardly noticable, yet present nonetheless, the planet of Halvalla catches her attentions most strongly. It seems to bear not only native life, but intelligent native life, their civilization spread from pole to pole. The damage from the on-going war between the Ivking clans becomes obvious once her perception becomes more focused. The presense of an individual Distopteran worker on the planet's surface is overlooked, for now, as her attention is drawn away by the sudden arrival of another vessel, the design too alien to belong to the natives of this system. The Thinkers of the Hive thrum with activity.

Meanwhile, the little Nekopteran colony continues working dutifully to expand and secure its habitat within the deep cavern networks of the planet, building wind breaks around the entrances to prevent sand flooding, improving the water moving systems, applying the electricity of the new power collection systems in various parts of the colony. While they have yet to fully utilize their habitat, they are coming very, very close.

Society on Ges begins to unwind as the beloved hero Admiral Zuro suddenly steals away not one, but three of the fleets in orbit around Ges, including one newly built and readied for continued war against the Satellians. Having been freed from the chemical control mechanisms during his time on Sneed, Zuro and his followers, also free of the Singularity's influence, set out on a long voyage to the Satellian home system. The Singularity, utterly stunned, fails to act and the Families on Ges and the outlying colonies begin to grow deeply upset. What's more, the Singularity discovers that various elements of the military and civilian populaces are no longer under the influence of the chemical control mechanisms in the blood supplies being distributed around the empire. Still-loyal researchers begin work on understanding this phenomenon, while the government begins to scramble to restore order before the looming clouds of open rebellion come thundering over their heads.

Satellian shipyards mass-produce the new combat vessels, assembling two full fleets in just under a year, though the testing phases of these vessels are cut off quite suddenly by the arrival of three full Geskani fleets in the home system. The recently-arrived Exploration Fleet takes position amidst the partially-functioning combat fleets (currently acting, more or less, like immobile weapons platforms), ready for battle. The Geskani seem still, quiet, which proves to be even more unsettling for the Satellian defenders. Having detected the passage of the Geskani fleets, the combat fleet stationed at Sneed arrives just behind them, hoping to help defend the home world, but finding a stand-off instead. What's more, a new stream of Snuddian merchant ships had been steadily traveling into the system, setting up a small orbital facility around Ahrmm, effectively establishing the Satellian side of the trade route infrastructure for them. The Snuddian traders begin to panic, preparing to abandon the trade post and evacuate their ships from the system as soon as the fighting starts. Meanwhile, the Hlethan vessel Rhetho, under the advisement of a Snuddian vacationer-turned-passenger named Vrun, jumped out of the system immediately upon the arrival of the Geskani ships. Elsewhere in Satellian space, the outpost on Ulunn finds itself the center of quite a bit of new activity, as the trade route between the Satellians and the Hletho finds the Satellian end of the route placed in orbit of the verdant world. Though the surface remains untouched for now, orbit sees a greatly increased degree of activity.

The Hlethan colonies of Haefar and Jolat, twin worlds in the Sethkhad system, find themselves to be in the most convenient location for the Hlethan end of the Hlethan-Satellian trade route, enjoying a greater influx of goods from both civilizations. While the large-scale transfers of goods have only just begun, the twin colonies are already experiencing the benefits of increased importation and immigration. Elsewhere, the Startraveler Hraef begins ferrying the first few loads of supplies and colonists to Khatr, a newly founded colony on the edge of Hlethan-explored space. Once finished, the Hraef is already slated to join the Startraveler Zoroth in integrating into the growing combat fleet in orbit around Thaej, lead by the almost complete Hrkan warship. The Startraveler Tharaez discovers not only the Ivking home world of Halvalla, but also the Distopertan Hive Ship, larger than any other vessel previously encountered by any Hlethan explorers. The Startraveler Rhetho, as previously mentioned, departs the Mar Aih system as events become quite dramatic and tense in a very sudden manner. Guided by a strange alien passenger formerly vacationing on Hmmaiaa, a Snud named Vrun guides the ship safely into proximity of his home world, Sneed.

There, the greeting satellites that survived the Geskani attack on the planet begin to flash their lights to form a friendly message with very, very basic communication methods. Interpretted by Vrun, the Hlethan explorers understand that they are being welcomed to the planet. The local traffic in the system seems quite lively as repairs are slowly being made to the outposts, stations and satellites throughout the system, as well as the coming and going independant merchant ships that seem to already be taking advantage of the new, more lax economic policies taking root on Sneed.

The Iokolu found two more colonies in their local sector, now occupying every sustainable system found there. The explorers press on into the neighboring sector of E/D, while a new exploration fleet is completed at the home world, preparing itself for a journey in the opposite direction.

The Ivkings carry on their war of attrition, back and forth, the Confederacy definitely beginning to assert its dominance over the barbaric clans of the northern and southern frontiers. Reconstruction work carries on with surprising success in the equatorial regions of Halvalla, finally enabling the Confederacy to meet the massive costs of sustaining the war effort, no longer putting such a strong drain on the nearly empty resource stockpiles. Unbeknownst to either faction, however, not one, but two alien species have come in the Ivking home system on missions of exploration. A Hlethan vessel called the Tharaez begins surveying the system, initially mistaking the Hive Ship for an asteroid due to its size, though during their first scans on Halvalla, the sensory systems operator comes to the realization that one of the asteroids is actually a ship and not an asteroid at all. How this pans out is going to be very, very interesting.

The Kekeji, at least beginning to understand that their explorer was lost to some alien force, assemble their exploration fleets at their home world, joined by newly constructed fleets designed strictly for battle. No plans exist, yet, to attack this potential threat to the galactic west, though it isn't out of the question.

Sensing that their welcome is wearing thin, and unauthorized to share the information that the Hlethans request, the Lelinthian Warden Lotholitel assembles her fleet and, bidding thanks and promises of reciprocation, departs for a new exploration assignment to continue developing the Lelinthian knowledge base of the local galaxy. Elsewhere, Kelethletel does the same, exploring a system that, unbeknownst to her, had been previously explored by the Satellians before the outbreak of war between them and the Geskani. Warden Kululuthul returns home, not with his proverbial tail between his legs, but with fury in his eyes. Making significant demands of the Home Wardens and making brief reminders of the military power of his flagship, Kululuthul assembles a new fleet out of idle Lelinthian ships, refitted for combat and commanded strictly by males. Though he has yet to make his intentions clear, the timid reaction of the Home Wardens has practically given Kululuthul free reign to do as he pleases, at least for the time being. Wardens Lotholitel and Kelethletel are warned of the events at home, but neither seem concerned at the moment. Not in a million years have Lelinthians fought each other, and it would take more than one male with a bad mood and a power trip to undo this fact. Unfortunately, in his rage, the empathic aura of Kululuthul has disrupted a portion of the more sensitive Culud population, destabilizing the workforce slightly by actually making them somewhat afraid of going to work.

The Murglers continue to do very little in the grand, cosmic scheme of things.

The Nhroaat SsKraed expand their colonies along the galactic arm they inhabit, still slowly exploring out into the bulk of the galaxy. At home, the populace grows disinterested in colonization and exploration, particularly due to the immense amount of work that they must do in order to provide for people living on other worlds. The stability of Nhroaat society weakens, ever so slightly.

The Orindi continue to keep to themselves, observing the primitive populations of their home world. In a stroke of engineering genius, the massive reactor systems of the city-ships are tweaked and modified to improve efficiency greatly, reducing operating costs and increasing productive output elsewhere in the city-ships. New entertainment systems, called "video games," become popular among the common citizenry, raising morale.

The Pohm nation of Thun converts its exploration fleet into a make-shift colony, largely serving as a military outpost to help rid the Pohm nations of its piracy problems. The Betik explorers press on their efforts to study the usable systems in sector G/G. Another fleet is produced, this time a multinational effort, though its exact intent is as yet undefined, and likely it will be a general-purpose exploration/colonization fleet. A small amount of progress has begun on technological advancement, bringing new neural interfaces to the populace, enabling easier, more efficient access to the information networks. Policing efforts along the space-ways has satisfied the populace, though the economic loss inflicted by the pirates has yet to be amended.

The Raer produce a new army and fleet on and around their home world, incorporating all the bleeding edge research conducted by the scientific community. These technical insights sweep across the home world and the relatively new colony, bringing greater productive efficiency to the populace as well as vastly improved logistical systems enabling industry to function more efficiently.

The Seipas Yag scientists yield several major breakthroughs, partially as a result of the archaeological efforts on the ruined planet of Umbar, formerly home to a species that once tried to conquer the Seipas Yag home world, though failed due to a massive civil war that ended up annihilating them. With the population crisis slowly being eased away from the breaking point, and the reminders given by the ruins of the Umbrian civilization causing fear of their own self-destruction, the stability of Seipas Yag civilization slowly increases.

A previously unknown species known as the Skul'agra make contact with the Bako Tellians while exploring in that region of the galaxy, placing the Skul'agran High Command on edge as to what to do with a space-faring alien civilization. Unbeknownst to any in the galaxy, the Skul'agrans are conquerers, having discovered a population of primitives not far from their home system. Deeming them unfit to rule themselves, and ultimately useful to the Skul'agran population, the planet was invaded and occupied. Though it has yet to fully become a profitable endeavor, the occupation is slowly winding to a close as the natives--Shodogs, the Skul'agrans call them--are re-educated and strong-armed into subservience. Despite meeting the Bako Tellians--a species of near-equals, technologically--the Skul'agra actually find their sense of superiority strengthening.

The Ulmans Kung are a new FTL civilization, setting out on their first endeavors of exploration after countless years of developing the technology to do so. Unfortunately, the system in which they have evolved also seems to be one of the most remote systems in the galaxy, and it appears that their efforts will take a fair amount of time to actually yield results. In the meantime, the civil war they have been enduring for years and years should keep them occupied, anyway.

The Undroth continue to develop their new colony, maintaining their position of isolationism in the galaxy. Unfortunately, a major earthquake has damaged infrastructure on the home world, undoing a portion of their labors there. Unwavered by this, the Undroth workforce almost immediately sets about on the repairs and rescue efforts.

The Phleghesh recall their assorted command carriers back to the home world to reoganize their strategies in their war with the Kant. Two carriers are sent away to deal with a small Kant attack force in orbit of the colony of Gllth, hoping to save the mining colony before it is completely eradicated. The rest of the Phleghesh carriers, three in total, prepare for upgrades and repairs. Unfortunately, they are interrupted part-way by a major Kant offensive.

Kant warriors in orbit of the Phleghesh colony world of Gllth rain fire down on the small mining colony, though without understanding the layout of the facilities, they fail to inflict significant damage. Before they can attempt further bombardment, two Phleghesh command carriers arrive in the system. Attempting to escape without a major firefight, the Kant are unfortunately cut off several times, forced to evade Phleghesh fighters. Taking several losses, the Kant finally manage to elude the onslaught before they are overwhelmed, escaping away to a nearby system. Though hoping to draw these command carriers away, the ploy seems to fail, though the two vessels do seem to stay put in orbit around the colony. Meanwhile, a massive Kant strike force plunges straight for the heart of the Phleghesh civilization, hoping to outnumber their enemy and bring this war to a close. Unfortunately, at the same time, a command carrier away on exploration duty arrives in the system to help with the defense of their home world.

The Kant did not fare well in the battle at the Phleghesh home world, which upsets me. I considered doing the battle over again, but in the name of impartiality, I've left it be.

The blue lines on the map are trade routes. You can't see the one between Sneed and Hmmaiaa because of everything else that's going on there. Anyway, just a note.

Stories and NPC diplomacy-type stuff is going to come tomorrow.

If I made any mistakes, post them!

Woot! Time to make things happen.
Great update, Bil.

It wasn't up initially, but if you refresh, it should be there.

Great update, sorry for not posting anything, didn't really know what much to talk about now, was mostly waiting for the aliens to arrive, and now that they're here, let the fun (conquest) of Halvalla begin!

Update has much awesomeness and promptness of which I am pleased.

I wanted the Kant to win that battle

I also note that there are currently seven fleets in my home system, 4 of mine and 3 of the Geskani, along with a Hletho one that just recently left. I feel proud of this.

bestshot9 said:

Great update, sorry for not posting anything, didn't really know what much to talk about now, was mostly waiting for the aliens to arrive, and now that they're here, let the fun (conquest) of Halvalla begin!

Click to expand...

@bestshot I imagine the Ivkings as the best and most veteran ground fighters in this part of the galaxy. I think they'd be awesome mercenaries. Looking forward to see how that plays out.

To Geskani Vessels, from The Agreement: The idea of living under the conditions set by an outside authority is uninteresting to us. It is comparable to death. On such basis, we have prepared various weapons, and intend to risk using them, as you have seen before.

Please state your intentions.

From the Geskani Combined Libertarian Fleet, to the Agreement: We seek safe harbour, peace, and a conference with your leaders. Do not fire upon us, or we will be forced to defend ourselves. We do not intend to attack you.

Daftpanzer said:

I wanted the Kant to win that battle

Click to expand...

I was totally rooting for the slugs.

A Short Hop From Hmmaiaa

Vrun screamed a classic Snuddian scream, a deep and baleful wail, almost sounding like an ancient steam-powered watercraft. His body had thrashed itself about in the otherwise strangely comfortable safety harnesses on the Hlethan vessel, his skin bearing small cuts and bruises from minute impacts with the bulkhead. He vowed to himself to never, ever travel with these weird-o tripods again, and also briefly considered writing a book about how awful their warp-compaction technology is. Vrun, previously certain that he had almost conquered the space-sickness that cursed every Snuddian, began to vomit/excrete as his body cycled through ten different kinds of shock.

The Hlethan crew were gravely confused, marginally concerned. Wahano Mo assumed, quite correctly, that it was a reaction to the compaction event, though he had never heard of a reaction quite like this. He wondered if the alien was actually significantly injured, while simultaneously pondering the light-based display presented by the shell of satellites orbiting the alien's home world. It appeared that the satellites were equipped with solar cells, light-emitting diodes, and likely a small computer system to control it all. The computer systems on the Rhetho told him that the lights went beyond his own visual spectrum, and the pattern was extremely complex but surprisingly straight-forward. The crew pondered the message, as did the ship, for several minutes.

"It says hello," Vrun groaned out through his translator, the Satellian voice being processed by the Rhetho and translated into whatever Hlethan language is commonplace (OOC: My apologies, if it has been mentioned previously!), then playing it over the internal speakers of the command chamber. Though oddly fragmented from the double-translation, the message was simple enough to be understood.

Wahano Mo returned his attention to their passenger, inquiring, "You greet visitors to your home world? Do you receive so many visitors as to make this necessary?"

A moment of translation, and Vrun mostly understood. He answered, "Well... yes? Sneed is a happening place. Lots of merchants and wars and all sorts of things have been happening here. Lots of visitors, all the time."

Mo was confused by this series of sentences and resigned to assume that the translator was inaccurate. "Buying and fighting is what you said? We were told that you were traders, not warriors."

Vrun spit up a little, though his body was slowly returning to some measure of comfort, if ever so slight. "Yes," he said slowly, "Trade. We trade. Others fight."

Mo was, again, confused. The language barrier must be disassembled further before this conversation can become clear and involve actual details. From what he could discern of the Snuddian language, it was largely grunts, whoops and whistles, with the occasional flatulent sound to emphasize emotion. It all seemed terribly inefficient, anyway.

Vrun was already getting signals on his personal computer, automatically tapping him into the information networks around the system. Most data bundles were inaccessible, likely due to war damage, though a few news packets could be found. He tapped into the communications networks and called around the corporate offices, but most of the telecomm codes saved in his computer seemed to have been disconnected or inaccessible as well. Finally, he managed to reach Ulls, who was so surprised to be hearing Vrun calling, he let out a ppppppbbbbttttt! for nearly ten whole seconds.

"Vrun!" Ulls shouted at the receiver, "When did you get back in the system?"

"Just now. I hitched a ride with some aliens," he answered, "Which I won't do again. Their faster-than-light systems hurt me. I'm going to check into a medical center when I get back on the ground. How did the war go?"

Ulls ppbbtted amusement, then answered, "Fine. We lost, but then the Satellians showed up to help us out, which was really nice of them. I heard we're paying them back by setting up a new trade infrastructure in their home system. Brave travelers like you have been jumping over there by themselves, taking advantage of the new market structure."

"What happened to the old market structure?" Vrun asked.

"Oh, we collapsed it to make a new one. Co-op corporate ownership, and so on. The executives ran away when the Invaders showed up, so when they came back out and tried to boss people around again, I guess those people got mad and lynched them. Anyway, their money got spent on rebuilding around the planet, and now we've got all sorts of neat new companies springing up all over the place. I heard they've been studying some of the Invader technology left behind, too. When are you landing?" Ulls was clearly chatty.

"Soon, I hope," Vrun answered, "My insides feel like they're coming outsides."

Ulls laughed, ppbbtt-ppbbtt!, then said, "Well, I've got to get back to work. Let me know when you get out of the medical center and all that, because I think our reproduction certificates might be coming in sooner than we thought. New regulations and so on. Anyway, bye!"

"Yeah, bye." Vrun hung up. He realized the Hlethans were watching him intently, and continued to do so for several minutes, until finally their commander approached him again.

Slowly, carefully, Wahano Mo chirped, whooped and groaned out a question in Snuddian Standard: "Who was that?"

Hurglsh - Pahaaassh Phhaarr Council Chamber

Old Master Sshuullsshh slithered his way up to the speaking platform atop the ancient ruins of the Pahaaassh Phhaarr, what remains of the old relic that enabled the Phleghesh to learn the secrets of technology. Though its wisdom had long vanished, it was still the central focus of the Phleghmaharash Ssssshh, the ruling council of the Phleghesh civilization.

Though they held little power over the every day lives of the people, the influence of the Phleghmaharash Ssssshh had grown ten-fold since the first encounter with the Bright Ones. Fear drove this government, and that fear drove the whole of Phleghesh civilization to follow it. Now, that fear was at its peak.

"Council, I address you clearly," the Old Master spoke, "Our home star has been discovered by the Bright Ones. A great battle has raged not far from the orbital paths of Hurglsh itself. Though we have achieved victory, we have also achieved the loss of one, and nearly two, of our Arks. The Bright Ones have shown a willingness to destroy us entirely, as we understand that our mining facilities on Gllth was attacked as well. Though no significant damage was done, it likely would have been annihilated had they not been scared off by two Arks. It has become clear that they are capable of infiltrating our space without detection, and do not seem to require any kind of a vessel to travel the stars. Indeed, the exoskeletal machines that they wear are not only for war, but have been seen to be worn by their colonists at all times. Though our understanding of the Bright Ones is limited, we must assume that their entire population as the full and total capacity of mobilizing toward our destruction. I ask of you, do you think that this war can be won?"

Resting after such an exhausting manipulation of his skin to speak, the Old Master relaxed atop the platform and awaited a response.

It was Old Master Nnnhhhnnff that spoke his opinion first. "Council, I address you clearly. We cannot win. Our preemptive efforts are futile when compared to their sheer numerical superiority and elusive capabilities. We cannot lose, either, for it will certainly be the doom of our people. We must draw on our faith in the Pahaaassh Phhaarr to draw our people closer together. If our numbers are insufficient, then we must make them sufficient."

"Inconceivable!" interrupted Old Mistress Glluuthhatthaarr, "It would take centuries to produce numbers to match them. Our breeding has already been stretched to the limits by the production of as many Arks as we have, and we have already taken substantial damage to our capacities."

Old Master Nnnhhhnnff was irritated. "What, then, should be done?"

The Old Mistress gurgled out her answer slowly, "Peace."

The Council Chamber roared with expletives, many members shouting the impossibility of such an endeavor, or the foolishness of letting their guard down.

"The Bright Ones would never allow this! We have known for years that they desire nothing but our destruction!" was shouted from one of the back rows, followed by a counter-point from the middle sections, "We do not know this at all! Our attacks are what started this war!"

The arguments raged about who's fault it was, what should be done, what couldn't or mustn't be done, and so on. Finally, after a long wait, Old Master Sshuullsshh spoke again, his resonance dominating the air, amplified by the Pahaaassh Phhaarr. "We are at an impossible intersection of choice. Can we assume that the Bright Ones are so numerous, or have they exhausted their warriors in orbit of Hurglsh? If we attack, will we be sacrificing the last of our Arks in vain, leaving us open to annihilation? Or shall we take to the defensive, and hope to break their people like waves on rocks? It must come to a vote. It is the only path that is right."

Agreements flooded the chamber, echoing off the dome wall, the vibrations of the council members themselves causing the water atop the packed mud floor to ripple. The fate of the Phleghesh, and perhaps of the Kant as well, would be decided in the coming hours...

First Encounter Part 1
Gao supreme made a tough decision last time to increase the presence of the military in “aggravated areas”. Though some of the councilmen looked upon him with discontent, believing that it was wrong to scare Tellians to obey the laws, he knew in his heart that this was the right decision to make. Eventually a kind of peace was restored to the Bako Tellian people, nothing comparable to the brief “time of unity” before the hurricane systems, but better nonetheless. Also, with the calming down of the hurricane systems, Bako was able to undergo a reconstruction period. Things seemed to be looking up for Bako. Things also seem to be looking up for Tounis as well, but in a different way.
Tuu: was appointed leader of the Tounis settlement upon creation. The job was simple enough, stay inside where it’s safe, and looks after the miners. Tuu wasn’t a miner. That is to say it wasn’t in his heart to mine. He hated the repetition of standing there and drilling, and collecting, but it was something. And from there he continued to do it because it was just something, he was doing. Tuu became hero one day, pulling two other miners from the collapsed deep-sea mines. He may not give a care in the world about mining, but he certainly cares for his fellow Tellians. He was appointed head of the Tounis settlement, for this very reason. This meaning he no longer had to mine, but on a planet that’s so incapable of holding Bako Tellian life as Tounis, there’s nothing for a non-miner to do, save stay in-doors and do paper work. There was also the task of observing the scanners. “Radiation levels high wrugh… (a term used to replace information, and refer to it as boring, or unimportant, like blah)wrugh… wrugh… wru, WHAT!!!! Tuu’s reports confirmed a giant object coming from the sky, but this couldn’t be right. It was far larger than a meteorite, but moving at a much lower speed. In fact, this object was more or less…slowing down, and landing… He shot up so fast that his tail whipped the chair knocking it straight into the air, and ran over to the intercom to tell everyone to run away from the “ giant meteorite. The release of his current transcended through the loudspeaker, and the Bako Tellians know better the feeling of another’s pulse, than any order words he can use….

Welcome to Sneed

Wahano Mo winced as the Startraveler Rhetho ripped its way back into uncompacted space. The vessel groaned- the Hletho had lost an excellent opportunity to perform maintenance on their craft- but the Jahahunoun had been extremely insistent in their requests for the Rhetho to leave immediately upon the arrival of the alien fleet. And that squat little alien called a ‘Snud’ was now with them, directing them back towards his own homeworld.

Quite fascinating, this interstellar community... It had been such a brief visit. Barely an armful of sleep cycles had passed since the Rhetho initially arrived at Maraekhad. Mo had rested out at the point of contact until receiving a copy of the translation coding device, at which point he responded and moved in to the inner system, rich in inhabited planets and moons. Several Jahahunoun and the Snud- named Vrun- had greeted then in orbit, and were present on the vessel when the hostile aliens arrived. The Jahahunoun had exited back out the umbilical, with what Mo understood to be firm advice- rather than uncontracted orders- to evacuate the system, giving general directions towards Vrun’s homeworld, ‘Sneed’.

The compactions had gone well enough, although their passenger had not enjoyed it, and left a physical mess to show it. Apparently, he was quite vulnerable to perceived physical sensation- in retrospect, he should have been warned, but up to the moment of the jump he had been quite enthusiastic towards the opportunity of leaving the system, and there had not been time for much of a briefing.

Lico Daeja had wanted to comfort the poor thing after transit, but his thrashing made such an action unadvisable. At any rate, Vrun seemed to be doing fine now, speaking through some remote communication to another member of his species.

“What was that?” asked Mo, through his jury rigged Jahahunoun Translator, roughly attached to a Jahahunoun-Snuddian system received in Maraekhad. He had earlier attempted to replicate Snuddian noises, but was physically lacking in the vocal capacities to create such noises in anything other than a whispered imitation.

“Ulls, my partner.”

“Hmm.”

“You do have partners in... whatever you call your species, right?”

“Hmm. Of what sort?”

“Mating.”

“Ah. We form triads in order to reproduce.”

“Triads?! You’ve got three genders?”

“Yes... I am Hlethen, Taesh and Daeja are Hlega, Jahn and Nahla are Hleko.”

“Weird!” exclaimed Vrun. He looked around the control room to look at the other Hletho. They looked pretty much all the same to him- maybe one of the ones he didn’t know was a bit bigger...

“Do you have a means of descending to your homeworld?”

“Er... I’ll ask about that.”

“We can transport you down if needed... but we are not sure which forms of transport you can tolerate.”

Vrun felt slightly queasy as he imagined what sort of masochistic contrivances the Hletho had for atmospheric descents.

But, seriously, three genders? Bizarre!

TaylorFlame said:

From the Geskani Combined Libertarian Fleet, to the Agreement: We seek safe harbour, peace, and a conference with your leaders. Do not fire upon us, or we will be forced to defend ourselves. We do not intend to attack you.

Click to expand...

From The Agreement to the Geskani Combined Libertarian Fleet: In response to your message, we are surprised and hopeful. We will welcome one small craft to approach for a conference. All other ships will still be considered hostile. Your people have shown honourable action in the past, but also ignorance and brutality. Change is understood as a possibility. Trust is made in small steps.

Discovery and Mystery

Captain Paila Sae of the Startraveler Tharaez worked him way around the observation deck, looking at several overviews projected over the planetscape in front of him. A brown-toned world of green, white and blue, lightly shrouded in clouds, lay far below the ship. Beside him was his brother, Dio, going over the latest scans.

“It’s bizarre Sae.”

“No need to remind me... anything new you’ve found?”

“Well, it’s some sort of organic-metallic composite object. It doesn’t have an atmosphere, but it has tremendous amounts of activity. If I were forced to make a guess as to its nature-”

“You aren’t.”

“-I’d guess that it is some sort of tremendous world-ship, built by methods entirely alien to us.”

“It seems slightly more feasible than being some sort of anomalous asteroid- and would account for all the signals we’ve picked up from the thing. Perhaps this is similar to what Captain Baheb Thoh observed before his probes came under attack.”

“Hmm... let me check.” Dio scanned over his console, until he accessed the records of the Startraveler Hraef’s explorations.

“Interesting... I don’t believe I’ve ever taken the time to observe this... but no, these vessels are decidedly technological in origin and appearance... they’re cubic and blocky, while this object is just a flattened, extended mass.”

“Something new then. I suggest we dispatch a Zir to investigate the vessel, brother Dio. This could be dangerous. In the mean time, have we gathered much more data from the planet?”

Dae Ro Phtan, the vessel’s communications specialist, approached the two.

“Yes, in fact, we have. We’re trying to apply Hiuref Rhebed’s translation algorithms to the transmissions that seem to be audio, but have had little success. Our probes have been exploring the surface for several hours, and it’s a rather interesting planet. It is somewhat barren, but heavily forested with large green photosynthetic organisms... it’s interesting to think that, in terms of predominate photosynthetic pigments, our planet may in fact be something of an anomaly. At any rate, the surface seems to be composed of mixed vegetation with several particularly dense, forested regions, a collection of medium water bodies, and a variety of anomalous empty lands. The region which we are presently surveying is roughly half way between the equator and the poles, and seems to be presently in a cold phase of its yearly cycle due to axial tilt and a slightly elliptical orbit.”

“And the civilization?”

“Of course! It seems to be a quite non-centralized civilization. We’ve found numerous signs of habitation and advanced construction, as well as the electromagnetic signals we continue to pick up, but we haven’t actually observed any organism which bears the hallmarks of technological civilization. It’s possible that they are migratory, like the Rhoans or Lhadons on Thaej.”

“A planet full of Rhoans? I should hope that our luck is not that bad.”

“It remains to be seen. The lifeforms on this planet follow a quadrupedal body structure, with a single nerve-spine extending backwards from a cephalus. We expect the sapients to be similar. Overall, the planet seems to be a rather rich, if slightly uncomfortable world, and the locals are in control of a technological civilization which apparently lacks space flight capabilities- similar to the technology of Thaej some five thousand years in the past. There is one final thing, however, that I wish to note.”

“Yes?”

“Many of the observed wastelands have tremendously high radiation levels which cannot be explained by the structure of the planet or any other natural cause we can discern. The sentient species may be going through some sort of disaster at this time.”

“Thank you, Phtan. I will prepare a message to be transmitted down to the planet.”

“It’s likely to get lost in the background noise of all of the transmissions coming from this planet.”

“Well, we’ve got nothing to lose in trying.” stated Sae. Prepare our communications center.”

“Yes sir. Oh, any news on that bizarre asteroid?”

“It might be a fellow startraveler...” noted Dio.

“We have begun to survey the object- further courses of action will be determined upon the acquisition of further data. Now, the message.”

Greetings. This is Captain Sae Paila of the Hlethan Startraveler Tharaez. We have come to explore, learn, and engage in mutual interactions. Please respond if you can understand or decode this message.

The Hive received the message. Radiation from the planet garbled some of it, but thinkers were able to decode the message quickly. The Hive had never in its long history been confronted by another species, and the concept of 'greeting' was quite foreign. In the days when there were other hives on Opterus, greetings consisted of wars where one hive was eliminated or enslaved. The thinkers assumed it was scrambled data from the planet, and continued. 'This is Captain Sae Paila of the Hlethan Startraveler Tharaez. We have come to explore, learn, and engage in mutual interactions. Please respond if you can understand or decode this message.'
The thinkers stopped.
'This?' Obviously a small hive of some species was aboard the small metallic vessel.
'Captain?' Hivemother?
'Hlethan?' The mystery was expanding. None of this makes any sense.
The Hive decided to send a string of binary numbers detailing the Hive's history since it reached space. A few petabytes of information should give the smaller hive some idea of the Disopterans, and one of the younger thinkers decided to tack on the end of the message:
'This is also come to learn and engage in mutual interactions. Define Greetings,Captain, Hlethan, and Explore. This is a startraveler as well, this understands.' More binary representing the location of the old planet, and the location of Halvalla beneath them. End transmission.

Mostly for fun, but partly useful (in some way, I'm sure), I made a map of all the charted routes between the explored stars. Some places, as expected, are much more crowded than others. What this represents, basically, is a measure of how well the various races of this galaxy have explored routes between different stars, which would then be faster to travel along, because the exploratory part has been taken care of, so all the calculations and such are already there. Some routes, of course, can be assumed to be known, where it might seem impossible for "background ships" to not have traveled along at some point.



Not really anything important, unless you're into this sort of thing.

EDIT: By the way, I put a list of costs in the "RULES" post.

Awesome! That's basically what I was doing with my maps of Hletho Space before... only now I can see where everyone's gone!