OOC:
Umm lutzj, would you kindly
not take canon characters flagrantly
out of character? That's what I get for allowing canon characters and ships I guess... Honestly, I think you should change your ship... That post of yours is declared void... It may sound harsh, but I have enough experience running these games to smell potentially fatal ludicrousness a mile off...
Oh and Rheinmetall, make sure you type in novel format, not script, and
certainly not a mixture of both...
Please don't double post berubeg...
IC:
"What do you make of it, lieutenant?"
The ship appeared to be some kind of freighter, about size of a Galaxy class starship. It was vibrantly colored and had three jets of bright blue flame rushing out the back of what were presumably engines. In spite all its rainbow colourings, though, it looked more than a little run down...
"I don't recognize the design," Kevin replied. "The computer doesn't seem to either, although it is somewhat similar to the old Clydesdale freighter designs..."
"Life signs?" Henry questioned.
"Picking up..." he began. "A couple of dozen, maybe? I can't be more specific than that, something's interfering with the short range scan, and it's
not the nebula this time..."
"I see," Henry nodded.
"Sir, they're moving towards us..." said the helmsman.
"Try hailing..."
He was cut off mid-sentence by the perimeter alert klaxon. He tapped a button on his command chair's control panel and a small image appeared of a second approaching ship, just exiting the nebula. It was small and sleek, much longer than it was wide or tall, with an almost bladed appearance to the shape of its blue-trimmed hull... It approached slowly, almost seeming to drift out of the nebula, but clearly under power.
"The power readings from the second ship are falling off..." Kevin reported. "Looks like they're going into some kind of semi-silent running..."
"They're hailing us, sir," the Greek-accented communications officer piped up. "We're receiving an automated audio message..."
"On speakers..." ordered Henry.
Ensign Albert Harris was something of a potpourri of several different nationalities. A young man from the colonies, he had only recently been assigned to the Adelaide. Henry had been surprised by how well he had settled into his new role though... The young man tapped a few buttons, allowing a brief message to come through...
*This is Independent Ouagadougou, no hostile intentions*
"I'm picking up about 70 lifeforms on that ship, sir," Kevin mentioned.
"Sir, we're being hailed by
another ship!" said Albert.
"I don't believe this, he's right, there's another ship approaching..." Kevin reported.
"We're are they all coming from?"
It was Dante Keating who had spoken. He was a generally jovial young officer of the junior lieutenant grade. He was a similar age to Kevin, perhaps slightly younger, a bit of a court jester off the bridge, but extremely attentive to his duties on the bridge. An odd combination, but one that Henry had learned to deal with...
"Put the ships on screen," said Henry. "Split screen between all three ships..."
The viewscreen changed to show all three incoming vessels. The newcomer was a grey vessel and slightly menacing looking, almost weapon shaped...
"Open an audio channel to the second hailing ship..."
Henry was slightly concerned about all this activity being focused on this one tiny little pocket of space. He was worried this might be a trap, even though the wildly different designs of the three ships seemed to preclude that possibility.
Albert was about to comply with the order when Kevin gave a loud "you've got to joking..."
"What is it?" Henry asked.
"There's a
fourth incoming vessel," Kevin replied, astonished. "This one's a completely different design again, looks like a
colony ship..."
"That's it," said Henry, rising from his seat. "I
don't like this, go to yellow alert... But don't raise shields yet..." he added, exhaling audibly
"Aye sir," came the reply from the tactical station at the back of the bridge...
A barely audibly alarm klaxon was heard in the background...
"Put the fourth ship on screen with the others," said Henry.
The fourth ship appeared on screen. It was a big, clumsy looking thing with a hull shape that near defied description. It looked like it had been heavily retrofitted.
"The colony ship is powering engines and..." he paused. "You're
not going to believe this..."
"A fifth ship?" Henry asked.
"I'm afraid so," Kevin replied.
"On screen with the others," he said, settling back into his chair and taking another ship form his coffee. He was getting used to this...
The main structure of the ship was something akin to a rounded rectangular prism with two large semi-cylindrical objects that looked like engines attached to it on struts. At the front was some kind of thick spire which could have been some kind of weapon. Both engines blasted a purple, fiery substance out the back...
"They're raising shields!" Kevin reported.
"Do the same..." Henry instantly replied.
Around the ship was instantly generated a powerful energy field. It was invisible and didn't cause a strong sensor reading, which was strange because any energy field should have caused the Adelaide to shine like a lighthouse on senors. That was just one of the many wonders of shield technology...
"They're hailing us sir," Albert reported. "On speakers, sir?"
"Yes..." Henry replied simply.
This is the domain of the Indpendant ship Lucipher. we wish you no harm, but we demand that you respect our Sovriengty.
"That sounded a little bit... French..." Dante commented.
"You always did have a gift for understatement, mr. Keating..." Henry replied. "Alright, any
more ships approaching?"
"I'm not reading any..." Kevin replied. "I don't if that means anything, the nebula
is interfering with our long range scans..."
"Well regardless..." Henry mused, taking another ship from his coffee. "Open a channel to all five ships..."
"Channel open, sir," Albert replied a few seconds later. "They may not respond, but they should hear you..."
"Very well..."
Henry cleared his throat and put on his best diplomat's voice...
"To all vessels in this area..." he began. "This is captain Henry Baker of the Federation starship Adelaide. We are on a peaceful mission of exploration and have no hostile intention. We are not here to intentionally infringe on anyone's sovereignty. Be advised our shields are just a precaution, I'm sure you can understand. from our perspective, six ships seemingly just so-happening to stumbling across each other like this is
not something that happens every day... I feel this
could be a great opportunity for cultural exchange between our peoples, however... please respond..."
"Well, the olive branch is extended..." said Kevin, seemingly unsure that this would have a good outcome. "What now, sir?"
"And now," Henry replied. "We wait..."
