Imperial Expedition

[Vagrant Hero]

Its been many years since the Imperium first discovered how to bend space to travel between stars. The wormhole, as it is called by the public, takes exorbitant amounts of power to create and sustain, is too dangerous to use within a certain distance of a sun, requires massive amounts of organization and logistics to both transport supplies to the station, to staff the station, to replace personnel on the station, to keep those Folc happy, and of course, requires a target to send objects to. The Conclave gave permission to all factions within the Imperium to feel free to explore the stars, to build stations, to colonize worlds, basically whatever they want, on the condition that all findings are shared with the Conclave, that taxes are paid to the Throne as is appropriate, and that they do not take any actions that disgrace the Emperor and the Imperium should they meet aliens in the void.

All ships built in the Imperial Spaceport are, of course, taxed, with the funds going directly to the Imperial Household. From this, they make a decent profit. However, the first expedition into the void was not launched by the Conclave. Instead, a collaborative effort between the Order of the Faith and Sword, the Order of the Blue Star, and the Order of the Hospitallers, each sending their own Corvette with slightly different designs, have banded together to see the stars. An Imperial Observer aboard a Science Vessel has been sent to monitor and gather data, filled with volunteers from the Imperial Army and Navy.

After years of preparation, the fleet is finally ready to explore. After selecting a suitable star system, one with a Class K Star, or an orange dwarf, they drift into the wormhole. The din of cheering crowds on Carrak, exuberant at this hope for the future, are loud enough to be heard even in the depths of the Imperial Palace. The Emperor frowns. It will be a long wait.

[Joe Joerson]

The Four Xengari Corvettes, with two small patrol boats specifically designed for this duty, lazed in orbit around the relatively small and orange star. The Four Corvettes were of sleek, dark and generally marine like design, not a single hard line to be found on their hulls. The two patrol boats were significantly smaller, many times smaller then the corvettes, but they were capable of great bursts of speed, useful for catching the occasional smuggler or such but not much good for anything else. They were sleek and a lighter mix of colors, much more so than the corvettes.

The Reason for their lazing movement here was mostly for the purpose of training the new Patrol boat crews on an easy run, far into the Empire between Vesmeron and Tuplarvis. Unlikely to be any real danger the Corvettes helped the new patrol boats go through this route, such replacement of Corvettes with these weaker craft was designed to free up the more capable ships for defense and attack of the alien races that seemed to be popping up around the United Lordships like weeds.

Soon the vessels would depart, having the patrol boats finished running through the 'scanning for smuggler bases' that they were training with. A little more time than they would transit on the Hyperlane to Tuplarvis, and arriving there with leave scheduled, many were mak-

"Anomaly Detected routing to science."

The Call from the Gravitics Operator brought the Captain back to to the here and now. High Lady, Viscountess Hretai, Captain of the Silent Betrayer called out, uncurling her necks and moving them upright.

"Science, Report."

The return message was not quite as pleasant as the earlier thoughts had been.

"Appears to be a wormhole of some kind, just appeared on the edge of the system outside any major impact of gravitational fields. Hold on something seems to be coming through, moving to your console now."

As Captain Hretai pulled up her smaller Captain's console she realized that the leave might have to be postponed.

[Vagrant Hero]

Four ships materialize through the wormhole, space warping around them. The three larger ships are emblazoned with a purple flame, a sapphire sword, and a blue sun respectively, with the main colors being green and a lighter shade of blue. They are all armed with what appears to be a main turret and a missile bay, and some smaller ports at regular intervals along the sides, except for the smaller ship that has no visible weapons. The fourth ship bears the banner of a double-headed legless reptilian creature, colored a dark red, emitting lighter red and blue rays from its body before fading into a light green circle on the edges.

The wormhole dissipates after several long moments, though energy signatures remain high in that area as space starts to settle down, allowing for a better look at the hard angles and chrome surface of the ships that have appeared. It doesn't take a xenophobe to be somewhat intimidated by their sudden appearance, as well as some degree of admiration for those who are architecturally minded. Even from this distance, it is obvious that the ships are extremely well designed (natural engineers) and give the impression of strength beyond their size, which is somewhat larger than the Xengari ships, but also significantly thinner.

Unbeknownst to the Xengari, the beings inside the ships are struggling to bring some of their systems online, since the wormhole transit has only been done a few times before and chinks still need to be worked out. Thankfully, life support is still working, and no one has been turned into a void demon. They'll be blind for a few minutes as they work things out.

[Joe Joerson]

Upon seeing the Alien Flotilla Commands ran out on the Command Bridge of the Xengari Fleet. The ships began moving across the void that separated the two Flotillas at their fastest combined speed, not letting the patrol boats go faster than the Corvettes. There was some admiration for the engineering of the Alien vessels though it was quickly replaced by fear of what this alien menace would do with their unique Faster-than-Light travel. They had appeared out of nowhere if Xengari worlds were under this threat, they would have to stop such a disaster from happening in the first place. A request for reinforcements had already gone out over FTL comms to Tuplarvis but they would not be able to arrive in time to affect anything.

So far the Alien Vessels had not done anything, besides invading Xengari space, so their capabilities were unknown. However while the current ships were certainly not Akreon's finest. Captain Hretai silently wished several times that they didn't just have older Corvettes and the patrol boats, some of the more front line units that had those experimental energy Deflectors and more powerful engines now. They did have four Corvettes versus three, the two patrol boats wasn't worth even thinking about in Combat situations. And while that third Corvette appeared to have no weapons, these aliens were not to be trusted so easily, which did mean that the fourth ship was somewhat worrying.

In any case the Xengari were approaching the Alien Flotilla at their best speed. The Aliens in turn doing nothing, if this kept up the plan might have to be advance to just outside weapon's range and hail them, or whatever form communication to leave or die the Xenologists suggested. It was worrying because of how long the Xengari had been here that light from their flotilla would already have reached the location of the Alien Flotilla, in the condition that they didn't have the Gravitic Sensors of the Xengari, meaning that enough if they didn't have Xengari technological devices they could still immediately see them, on the condition that they were looking of course.

[Vagrant Hero]

(The three large ships are visibly armed, though with the third corvette, we'll just roll with it and say that you see its weapons as you get closer. It is the small (science vessel) ship that has no visible weapons.)

After some tinkering and praying, the technicians manage to get all systems running on the ships, and the Imperial Observer makes notations on the effects of FTL travel, while the logs record all the error reports and such. However, this is when the Paladins leading the expedition become a bit concerned at the sudden influx of information, and what appeared to be a small fleet heading towards them. A quick analysis reveals the structural integrity of their hulls, as well as some rapid theorizing as to what they are thinking.

Paladin Wulfomere, commander of the Blazing Dawn, Paladin Aelric, commander of the Inquisitive Glance, and Paladin (and also leader of the expedition) Cayderix, commander of the Emperor's Will, briefly discuss what their course of action should be, before settling on waiting and seeing what these aliens do since they've done nothing overtly hostile yet. Mindful of the fact that they may have accidentally encroached on a sovereign nation's territory, they are going to play things safe.

With that in mind, Cayderix orders the Observer to start broadcasting the golden ratio and other mathematical equations in an attempt to establish some kind of communication. The weapons stay powered down, but the crews are wary.

[Joe Joerson]

(Noted, I got confused, thanks for clearing up the info.)

After some discussion of the Broadcasts from the Alien vessels they start to reply in turn with mathematical formula and other such ways of establishing communication through mathematics. Captain Hretai, the senior Captain and thus the Commander of the Xengari flotilla, is in full support of communicating with these aliens and possibly establishing more non-violent contact dependent on their intentions of course.

The Xengari ships continue to approach the Cirnii flotilla, however upon orders from Captain Hretai they slow to cruising speed, back from the maximum they were previously using to close the distance in case of necessary combat. Many scientists and officers aboard the Xengari ships, particularly Captain Hretai, are thankful that they at least had the new software for correlating information, intended to be used for deferring alien languages. Even if they did not have the advanced propulsion and energy deflectors then if these aliens were peaceful of a kind it might still be adequate.

Captain Hretai orders an image sent to the alien flotilla, taking a page from the book of Captain Akrot and the first contact there, sending an image of the alien flotilla from the viewpoint of the Xengari, in addition to the other Broadcasts.

[Vagrant Hero]

Pleased that God has seen fit to not send them into deadly combat on their first exploration, the Expedition reciprocates the Xengari's actions by sending them an image of their own fleet. The return image has some quality to it that seems odd, due to the nature of the Cirnii imaging technology and the biology of their compound eyes. The image seems to distort ever so slightly around the center of the picture, with the ships shown in great detail, but the surrounding space slightly out of focus.

Following this image is a series of graphical charts showing the structure of their government and the Emperor they owe fealty to. The Emperor's flag is shown at the top-center of the image, the double-headed serpent far larger than any of the other flags. Branching out to the bottom and left of it, are the five flags of the Holy Orders, three of which you recognize as being emblazoned on the sides of the ships. Directly below it is a symbol of the Church, with symbols you do not recognize but represent the Three Pillars of the Faith. And to the right of it, a symbol of a fortified ground structure surrounded by smaller, unfortified buildings, with a patchwork of colors in every pixel representing the various feudal lords and the Free Cities. All three subservient symbols are roughly the same size collectively, and larger than the Imperial Sigil, but still subservient to it, trying to get across a sense of fealty and allegiance.

A new formula is sent to the Xengari, which is the same framework but with the Xengari ships in the center and some blank spaces filled with symbols that are recognized as variables from previous equations. An invitation to show off their own societal structure.

[Joe Joerson]

On board the Bridge of the main Xengari corvette they are pleased when the aliens sends a reciprocal image, odd that it may be though expected of Xenos, but are initially confused by the charts and other such images then sent by the Cirnii. The images are sent to Xenology and a reply comes from Xenology a little while later.

They believe that the images are showing a form of government or societal structure of the aliens. For some reason this seems especially important to them having transmitted it before establishing normal communications. They further recommend, based upon the new formula, that they send a reply to the transmission as again they seem to invite such a response and consider this information vitally important. Attached to this info from Xenology is what they believe the reply should be.

At the central top is an image of a three heads that appear to be from a serpent or some sort, black heads on a blue background, the Crest of the Overlord. The Blue background forms an orb of the same shade of blue around the three heads before fading into darker blue, similar to the colors of the Xengari ships. The Darker blue expands downward and out to the left and right forming a framework in which the alien picture of the Xengari ships are embedded as well as eight blue orbs in a line below the Xengari ships. Below the blue orbs are sub divided into several crest each of prominent High Lord families, as the blue orbs represent full Xengari worlds. The Darker blue and connections to the Overlord symbol as well as the image of the Xengari ships attempt to frame the whole thing into representing the military around which all Xengari are protected inn but may not be entirely clear. As well it attempts to convey absolute power to the the Overlord crest it being bigger and more prominent than any other symbol.

This is sent along to the Cirnii, the Xengari ships continue their approach at cruising speeds. Many of the Xengari are getting impatient with the aliens wanting to directly demand through an image why they are here though they still haven't figured out how to do that without establishing normal communications.

[Vagrant Hero]

The Cirnii are suitably impressed by the chart sent back, murmuring about the central image and the relations of the other objects to it. They recognize the crests below the orbs as being coats of arms of powerful vassals, but are somewhat confused at the lack of other prominent institutions since they are all derived from the eight blue orbs.

Now, the Cirnii are at something of a loss as to what to do next. Cayderix does not wish to antagonize the new beings into a fight (which he would definitely win) by doing something unexpected. After some deliberation, he decides to take this meeting elsewhere.

An image is sent of the two fleets transposed next to each other, over a map of the stellar neighborhood. An animation is created where the two fleets move to a different system, with various coordinates set on the screen. Each coordinate pair is recognized as belonging to a different system.

The question he is attempting to ask is, where would the Xengari like to go?

[Joe Joerson]

After some puzzlement on the Xengari ships the intent of the aliens is presumed. They believe they want to go to another star, which they are leaving up the choice to the Xengari. Many are confused by this alien behavior but Captain Hretai again decides that they will play along with the Xeno's oddities so as to learn more about alien vessels and how they managed to penetrate so far into Xengari space.

A return transmission is sent back to the Cirnii flotilla. It is the coordinates to a nearby system, still in Xengari space, with an animation of both fleets heading there. In truth the system has a Xengari cargo depot there and some markers for future mining operations but otherwise is empty. In addition there is a hyperlane right to the system from the current one.

The Xengari ships use their FTL communicator to inform the Xengari reinforcing ships were they are going, and why.

[Vagrant Hero]

The space surrounding the Cirnii fleet simmers for a bit, until an anomaly almost identical to the one previously witnessed appears. The ships twist and warp into the wormhole, which shows faint images of a system with a blue sun and several gas giants, all bluelit. The wormhole remains for several long minutes, then collapses in on itself, returning space to normal shortly afterwards. Minutes later, another wormhole appears on the outskirts of the designated system, and the fleet materializes once more.

On their way to the designated system, the Imperial Observer sends a data packet with all the information they had gathered so far, including system details, ship details, alien behaviors witnessed so far, speculation, and finally their stated intent to continue the interactions elsewhere.

Some question was made over whether or not to leave some ships behind, or supplement their fleet with forces from the Imperial Navy proper, but ultimately decided to bring the same four ships so as to maintain some sort of familiarity and stability with the aliens.

(You will probably arrive in the designated system before me, due to how wormholes work. Very good for getting across vast spaces in a blink, not so good at traveling next door.)

[Joe Joerson]

The Xengari fleet watches the disappearance of the Cirnii fleet, and charges to go to the designated system. There is much discussion of the wormholes remaining long after the ships disappeared a curiosity to some, to most of the tactical officers an opportunity, however not one they are prepared to act upon yet. The Xengari fleet leaves the system, the Corvettes go the the designated system, patrol boats moving on to Tuplarvis. Splitting the fleet as soon after the arrival in the designated system the reinforcements should be able to arrive there.

The Designated system has several barren worlds and only one major gas giant. The Cargo Depot is located in orbit of one of the moons of the Gas Giant. While being mostly automated the depot does have room to support a small amount of life for several weeks, designed for Xengari most rooms and areas would be vastly larger than necessary for most other species.

Once arriving in the system the Four Xengari Corvettes head to the depot and await the arrival of both reinforcements and the vessels. Intending to send a transmission to the Aliens when they arrive showing intent to meet at the Cargo depot.

Their transmission would include an animation showing the Cirnii and Xengari ships docked at the depot.

[Vagrant Hero]

The Blazing Dawn takes point, with the Inquisitive Glance and the Emperor's Will following in a roughly wedge-shaped formation. It is decided that Cayderix and Wulfomere will lead the expedition onboard the station, with Aelric to remain in charge of the fleet in their absence. An honorguard of 12 men-at-arms accompanies the two paladins, as well as the Observer and her aide, who bears a digital notepad of some sort.

A rudimentary escape plan is developed, where the Emperor's Will and the Inquisitive Glance take off to establish security in space with their larger laser turrets and nuclear warheads, while the Blazing Dawn supports them with its missile ports and takes out targets of interest while sending out two light mechs (they would have gotten more, but the wormhole station didn't have any suits available, and rightfully so, considering they were not expecting to fight aliens anytime soon, and they still had to be prompt) to help the men on the station escape. The technicians aboard the fleet will attempt to jam enemy systems, but it is unknown if it will have any effect due to the differences in technology. If the party cannot escape, the fleet has orders to get out of the system as fast as possible, and to not care about "safe distance" when it comes to forming wormholes.

The Cirnii are hopeful that this plan will be unnecessary, but it is better to be prepared for this occurrence, rather than to simply trust all to God, for he is not so generous as to do everything for his followers. The fleet makes their way to the station, and start docking.

[Joe Joerson]

The Cargo depot is a large structure somewhat reminiscent of a Earth Jellyfish. It has a large hemispherical top portion with a long central spire below it culminating in a point. There are various towers and other pieces of unknown purpose strewn along the bottom of the hemisphere. The Diameter of the hemisphere is around the length of a Corvette, the hull of the depot is a light beige with curving lines of dark blue color. Most of the docking appear to be along the central spire with only small hatches along the upper hemisphere. It appears well made if heavily standardized as if needed to be reproduced on a large scale.

The Docks are unusually large, possibly because of the nature of design with a cargo depot, and will only really ft with the Cargo doors of the Cirnii ships. On board the station the Xengari have pact way, hidden or removed anything they consider "too sensitive" for the aliens to see and thus learn about the Xengari. Currently there are a few Xengari and a large population of Robots aboard the station. Most of Xengari waiting at the dock in pressure suits, with some robotic escorts. The Xengari would tower over the Cirnii if they do board, being around three meters tall and twice that distance from torso to end of tail.

In the docking area aboard the station there are three Xengari in pressure suits and a large group of Robots around the walls of the docking room. Small spider-like robots, large floating marine like robots and some two meter tall bipedal robots. They are almost motionless at the moment, using magnetics to stay by the wall as they blend together visually seeming to be an odd pattern, however any basic sensors tool would capable of detecting the large mass of robots. In addition to the large mass there is several of the large floating marine like robots behind the Xengari group of three awaiting the aliens at the dock. The Dock is pressurized thought to Xengari atmosphere and conditions. Likely hotter, more humid and more oxygenated then the Cirnii homeworld on average, but not differentiating enough to be unlivable, just likely uncomfortable. Though some may find the temperatures and humidity to their liking if not completely overwhelmed by it.

The Three Xengari consist of Captain Hretai, her science officer Low Lord Jrenmo, and her head Xenologist High Lady, Dame Anveria. The Xengari have not formulated any complicated plan of retreat, partly because of hubris and partly because of the soon arriving reinforcements.

Further back into the depot is a room set up for communications with the aliens with view-screens, speakers and other devices. It is equipped mostly with cushions of various sizes and a large amount of the biped robots to act as servants.

They await the arrival and disembarkation of the aliens with some excitement, fear, distrust and trepidation. This would be the first face to face contact that the Xengari have had in person, with aliens they do not even have an idea of their appearance.

[Vagrant Hero]

The Inquisitive Glance and the Blazing Dawn have no difficulty docking, even with the unusual arrangement. The Emperor's Will over-corrects as several points, but manages to not kill everyone aboard and finally dock after another half-minute. Cayderix muses on the potential irony of being slain by fellow Folc's error rather than the weapons of an unknown foe. The science vessel also docks with ease, thankfully enough.

"Our fates were decided the moment we stepped out into the Void, brothers. Honor yourselves, the Order, and the Emperor we all serve. Behave responsibly, and know that we have made history this day." A polite chitter acknowledged his words.

He could feel the unspoken thoughts of his crew, and in truth he echoed them. What will the chronicles say of this moment, years hence? The start of a great friendship, or a rivalry with yet another terrible foe, all the more dangerous due to its connection with the unknown?

And yet, he could not help but hope.

He marched out of the corvette slowly, 7 men-at-arms behind him, one of them even being a veteran of the Weltkrieg who had somehow survived without major injury. Each of the men-at-arms wears an arctic white, with black highlights, armored suit and carries either a long rifle on their backs or a pole-weapon, a backpack looking device (personal body shield that is very effective against energy weapons, and mildly {read: not very, but better than nothing} effective against kinetic attacks) that appears to be a part of the armor but is detachable (and also unusable when detached), and a sheathed bladed implement on their waist. The helmets have polarized visors on each side of the face, obscuring their faces, but the fronts are fully metallic, as is the rest of the helmet. Cayderix wears body armor similar to the men-at-arms, only that it is a lightly powered (giving it significantly more bulk), and only carries the small pole-weapon and device on his back. All of them bear the sigil of the Order of the Citadel (the black castle with three towers), and march smartly.

Wulfomere and his soldiers march to join them, with two of his soldiers behind him, all bearing the sigil of the Order of the Blue Sun (a purple flame) upon black and green armor. Their weapons are slightly different, but are similar enough to not need mentioning. Three men from the Order of the Faith and Sword form up behind him, and an astute observer would note that they are not being led by one of the power-armored soldiers. Their armor is a lightish-gray with a brilliant sapphire blade as their sigil, very ornate, and still armed.

Throwing away all the mystique and mystery of the armored, visor-ed soldiers, the Observer and her aide also walk aboard the ship, which gives the Xengari a very accurate view of their biology indeed. The Observer is wearing some kind of soft-suit under a silvery silken dress and turban type head-wrap, beautifully woven, with some kind of wrap around her waist and a mask on her belt. (This is in the case of sudden decompression. Insect don't have lungs as we do, instead they breath by passively taking in air from holes in their midsection, which is why they tend to drown when submerged in water.) She holds in her hand some kind of digital notepad, as does her aide, a male, and garbed similarly, except with much more muted colors (as befits his station!), and with a pair of wings, unlike literally everyone else.

The Cirnii party aboard the station form up into multiple lines of soldiers, with the Cayderix standing in the very front, Wulfomere beside and slightly behind him, and the Observer staring at basically everything off on her own. Everyone is looking around, analyzing the scenery. They notice the very spacious environment, but assume that it is simply because it has to accommodate large machinery and other implements. Even so, they all feel quite small here.

[Joe Joerson]

After the Disembarkation of the Cirnii and their formation into the lines of soldiers, the biped robots at even intervals move away from the walls, because of the mass of robots and their positioning looking as though a piece of the wall has broken off and moved. They advance forward stopping a fair distance away from the Cirnii, a line from the dock that the Cirnii party entered from to a large airlock opposing it. The two meter tall robots stay still for several seconds at their new position before folding their left arm across their 'chest' and dropping to one 'knee' as the airlock opens.

From the airlock comes the Xengari party of three, towering in at three meters in height, around a meter and a half in width across the torso, their body thins down to a point, the end of their tail, across their six meter length. They wear a fairly form fitting pressure suit, only not conforming to form by coming in helmets around the three heads of the Xengari. The Xengari come out in single file, spreading out into a row as they move out of the airlock. In front and later center, is Captain Hretai, her pressure suit having her family crest, an Ironclad steam vessel over two crossed swords, on it with the other two pressure suits those of Science Officer Jrenmo and Dame Anveria being blank, having only the general color of dark blue used on the Xengari suits.

The three move down the aisle of the robots towards the Cirnii group, stopping six meters from the group. When reaching this point Captain Hretai folds her leftmost head down onto her chest, the Xengari salute from either equal to equal or superior to inferior, both of the other Xengari quickly follow this gesture. The Central heads of the three focus on the group while the right most heads turn to right exposing the left eye on the right head to the party of Cirnii. If one was measuring such frequencies they would notice many ultrasonic pings from the Xengari towards the Cirnii group, likely as the result of natural sonar. Six of the floating robots stay behind the Xengari, acting as servants or for other such needs.

As this happens the various robots in the room are recording and transmitting sound and images back to Xenologists on the Xengari vessels looking for more information into these Xenos.

The Xengari seem to await response from the Cirnii.

[Vagrant Hero]

The Cirnii, whilst initially distracted by the robots moving around, are awed by the arrival of the Xengari. After a brief bit of staring, Cayderix brings them to order with a barked command, and they all salute with their arms crossed while the Paladins and the Observer bow as a sign of respect to fellow nobility and their hosts.

After the initial greeting, Cayderix motions to Wulfomere to stand with the formation. The Observer steps forward and, using the hologram function on her device, displays an animation showing the history of the Imperium in animation form. A twin-headed serpent, ancient and venerable, brought low by many foes in a desolate plain of ice, puppets of war fighting each other. A new serpent rises from the snow and, guided by a holy light, feasts upon the smallest of its foes, struggling to survive in the many battles and exchanging blows with its larger enemies. Allies of the serpent come to its aid, against a grand coalition. The struggle continues, with many seasons passing to show the moving of time, with the serpent growing both stronger and weaker. It is ganged up upon by all of its enemies, whilst simultaneously betrayed by one of the heads. Despite all odds, it beats the other head into submission, and consumes all of its enemies. Peace reigns over the land, under the watchful gaze of the serpent. Years pass.

It turns its head to the stars, vast and beautiful. Progress. Fire and industry on the plains of ice. A desire to spread its wings and grow, and feast and sate its hunger, not for conquest, but for knowledge. Many other images displaying the culture and history of the Imperium, and its purpose. To explore, to expand, and to defend against the Apocalypse, the end times.

The animation ends.

[Joe Joerson]

The Xengari raise their leftmost head when they believe their salute has been answered. Watching the observer as she steps forward with their leftmost heads, when the hologram function is used the central heads turn to the hologram, the rightmost turn to the Observer, and the leftmost turn to the Cirnii party. The Xengari watch with some interest, the science officer seeming more interested in the medium the animation is being played by while the head Xenologist more interested in the animation.

Over the course of the animation some feedback from the Xenologists back on the ship is transmitted to the Xengari suits, to help explain what might be going on. After the animation ends the Xengari rightmost heads face each other for a moment before turning to the right again allowing their left eye on their rightmost head to gaze upon the Cirnii. After some discussion both with each other and the Xenologists back on the Xengari vessels, the Cirnii would be able to pick up the radio chatter if not know it's meaning, they reach a decision.

The three Xengari pull aside slightly and one of the floating robots behind them comes forward with a screen. The screen depicts an animation of the Cirnii following the Xengari further back into the station, it promptly ends more as a request. After this has gone through, the Xengari turn and begin to move back into the station, possibly to see what the Cirnii response is.

(Sorry for the super later reply, been flying on planes all day.)

[Vagrant Hero]

Four soldiers from the Order of the Faith and Sword move to guard their ships, while the rest of the group begins following the Xengari. The military personnel move in a column, while the two scientists are out of step and in the front next to the Paladins. As they move, they make note of what they see, tracking numbers of robots, corridors, structural designs, etc.

[Joe Joerson]

In the dock where the Cirnii arrived the biped robots reverse all actions they took, standing up, uncrossing their arm walking back and forming back into the "wall", after the Xengari and large group of Cirnii move further into the depot.

As the large party of Cirnii follow the Xengari down corridors, they may notice that there are few paths other than the one that they take large enough for the Xengari, some are large enough for only the biped robots, or the floating ones and some even smaller than that. In any case whenever they pass a corridor there are also several biped robots blocking it off, usually only a single row but sometimes in the larger Xengari friendly corridors two rows. The walls are bare which could indicate anything from simply not caring to this structure simply not being of as much importance as one which would gain any designs or interesting artifacts upon the walls. No where do they see any Xengari other than the three that are leading them.

Eventually they arrive upon a large room, filled with view-screens, speakers and various devices whose purpose is not obvious. There is a group of around twenty of the biped robots further back, these are not colored the dark blue of the earlier robots but instead the light beige that is the same color as most of the depot. Three large cushions, around the correct size for a Xengari rest in a semi circle facing towards a large group of cushions around the correct size and number for the Cirnii party.

The Xengari move to rest upon the three cushions, upon arriving on them they fold their long body around in a curled roll with their torso on top, "sitting" on the rest of their body as they are on the cushion. As they do this the view-screens light up with an animation.

The animation first shows a slightly stylized Xengari in a dark blue, and a slightly stylized Cirnii in yellow standing facing each other. First the Xengari 'speaks' emitting in the animation a wave of sound represented by vertical lines moving out from the Xengari to the Cirnii. The Cirnii responds by 'speaking' emitting in the animation a wave of sound represented by horizontal lines moving out from the Xengari to the Cirnii. Then the animation switch to a version of the same initial image, the Xengari and Cirnii facing each other, but this time with a box in between them. The box is half dark blue and half yellow. Again the Xengari 'speaks' emitting in the animation a wave of sound represent by the vertical lines, but they move to the box and stop. The dark blue portion of the box illuminates, then goes dark as the yellow portion illuminates then goes dark as the box emits horizontal lines towards the Cirnii. The process is repeat when the Cirnii replies, yellow lighting then dark blue then vertical lines.

The animation switches to a stylized Xengari with a box that is not colored. The Xengari 'speaks' again vertical lines, the Xengari keeps doing this as the box slowly fills to half Dark blue. Then the Xengari picks up the box and moves, the screen follows where the Xengari move to a Cirnii there the Xengari sets down the box, between Xengari and Cirnii.

As this animation occurs the light beige robots in the back begin moving around some equipment before, as the animation finishes, moving it between the Xengari and Cirnii, and connecting it together after a little work they move away leaving the large connection of devices between Xengari and Cirnii.

The Animation's intent was to communicate the idea of a translator and the need of the Cirnii to speak so as to be able to translate between the two species. The Xengari hope they got across such a message, though so doubt the aliens would be capable of understanding.

(I just realized that I have been using Cirnii, when I should probably been using Folc.)

[Vagrant Hero]

(Cirnii is a general name for a citizen of the Imperium, and both a plural and an adjective, whereas Folc refers to the actual species, though technically it is the name for their genus. Like how the Romans didn't all call themselves humans, they called themselves Romans, and named their government after their people. Senatus Populusque Romanus. Just something I took issue with in the game that all the governments were named with either their species name, which is usually stupid, or named after the planet or star, which is better.)

The Cirnii begin seating themselves among the cushions, resting on their knees. They suss out the meaning of the animation fairly quickly, not being unfamiliar with auditory communication themselves. So, the Cirnii begin to speak. The scientists talk about science stuff, the Paladins talk about the history of the Imperium and their holy duty, and the soldiers talk about what soldiers talk about when in stressful, potentially dangerous environments. Anything to lighten the mood. Discussion about the latest movies, global politics, sexual exploits, the usual.

To the Xengari, this comes across as a high-pitched chirp-crick noise with varying tempo, intensity, with pauses and dynamics thrown in for emphasis and delineation of different sounds to carry meaning. However, most of the Cirnii are not using body langugage as much as usual, since they are still on alert.

Let the translation games commence.

[Joe Joerson]

The Xengari correlation program turns towards attempting to translate the alien language. Eventually translating it of a sort, not being the entire language but some basis, the Xengari hold off on letting the Cirnii know of their translation, simply radioing among themselves as the program continues to strengthen and correct any problems in it's translation as the Cirnii continue to speak. The "translation" is less an actual translation and more a framework for translating the language, this effort of actually translating continues.

The Xengari for their part remain in their pressure suits until Captain Hretai, much to dismay of the Science Officer, partially removing the helmets around her thee heads. The central head having no visible eyes while the two side heads both having singular eyes along each side of the head. Possibly explaining the earlier turning of head behavior, She then turns them looking upon the Cirnii with vision from her side heads and sonar via ultrasonic pulses from her central head.

[Vagrant Hero]

It is around this point that the Observer finally realizes that the Xengari are using sonar to "ping" images, like the small flying mammalians that prey on even smaller mammals and insects on Carrak. She sets her digital notepad to record and make note of these sounds, and starts trying to figure out what other noises the Xengari are making.

The Folc as a whole are somewhat discomfited by the immense size and the obviously immense strength that the Xengari posses. Some individuals admire the Xengari's undoubted intelligence, given their ability to create robots of all kinds and travel through the Void, but they are all concerned about both the potential threat (and opportunity) that the Xengari represent.

Taken up by the spirit of the moment, a few of the men-at-arms start to sing a song about a mariner, whose bravery and courage lead to the discovery of exotic lands and new friends. Regarded as a bit optimistic by most of the other Cirnii, they nevertheless begin to sing along, recounting the deeds of the Mariner. The Paladins give the equivalent of a sigh as they watch the soldiers fool around.

[Joe Joerson]

Captain Hretai watches the alien antics for a short amount of time before finally listening to her Science Officer who had been speaking in High Kolesh in the ultrasonic range as the aliens had not seemed to be aware of such ranges, to put her helmets back on. Though the Captain only put her rightmost helmet back on she also ordered to be able to listen to the translation of the caterwauling of the Xenos. After listening through the speakers in the rightmost helmet Captain Hretai decides that she will speak to the aliens.

The machine between the Xengari and the Cirnii flashes out blue lights and a cracking noise, like thunder, to get the attention of the aliens. The lights are not particularly bright nor the noise particularly loud but they suddenness may be designed to catch the aliens attention. A few seconds after the alert the devices emits more sounds this time the hopefully appropriately translated message of Captain Hretai to the Cirnii.

"Hello alien personnel. This is Lady Hretai, Viscountess of the Akreonic world of Tuplarvis, Senior Captain of the nearby Akreonic flotilla. To whom do I speak to?"

Captain Hretai's leftmost head, which is bare, is perpendicular to the Cirnii, watching with one eye. Her central head moves as if scanning the Cirnii for the one who will reply, as it does this the central head continues to emit Ultrasonic pulses for determining the location of each Cirnii.

[Vagrant Hero]

Suddenly put on edge by the loud noise, all the Cirnii immediately stop whatever they were doing to stare at the machine, though they quickly calm down when they hear the voice of the Viscountess. Paladin Cayderix steps forward.

"I am Lord Paladin Cayderix of the Holy Order of the Faith and Sword and vassal of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor and his Household, representative of the Serene Imperium of the Blessed Cirnii Realm, Captain of the Emperor's Will and commander of this Expeditionary Fleet."

Following this greeting, he makes a large bow in the direction of Lady Hretai's central head, due to her status as fellow nobility as well as being the hostess of this meeting. He finds some comfort in the fact that they are dealing with nobility, but this mention of "Akreonic world" implies that there are other, perhaps numerous, Akreonic "worlds." If so, he is dealing with a power far greater than any the Imperium has faced before, and as such, must tread lightly to avoid any missteps.

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