Special Delivery for the Serene Imperium, Sign Please

[The Clans]

An unknown ship drops out of warp within a Serene Imperium mining system. Once its scanners detect orbiting stations, it picks out a few of them to transmit to. The relatively small ship broadcasts a periodic table of elements with accompanying images of the elements in their raw form and their processed forms (for metals). As well as images of a variety of hand held, vehicle mounted, and ship mounted weaponry and vehicles as well as ray alloys, materials, and consumer appliances and electronics. For every image there is a vocalization representing it along with accompanying signals to release pheromones, laser light bursts, and all manner of unique communication methods included in case the receiving species perceives the universe and communicates differently. Also included are images (and their exotic communication equivalents) of swapping and exchanging these items for other items. Given that this appears to be a mining system, the examples include a swapping of a quantity of raw and processed minerals in exchange for drills, explosives, cutting lasers, and shuttles mounted with drills and cutting lasers

[Vagrant Hero]

The sheer variety of the incoming signals -many of which they do not understand- threatens to overwhelm some of the older systems for a moment, before things calm down and they figure out some of what is being transmitted. Naturally, this excites the Lord Minios of the Golden Thorns.

The family in charge of this system is an old one, wealthy and powerful. With a fleet consisting of a singular corvette and a few smaller vessels, it may not sound like much, but when compared to how long the Imperium has actually been able to build vessels to travel the Void, as well as the sheer economics required to finance, maintain, and make a profit off a mining operation of all things, the Lord of the Golden Thorns deserves his title indeed.

Like most lords, Lord Minios has a great deal of autonomy beyond his supposed fealty to the Emperor. And so perhaps it should not be a surprise that, when faced with an opportunity of such magnitude, his thoughts did not at all consider his obligations to the Emperor, but immediately considered the practical gains that could be made from a private connection with a space faring race looking trade and barter.

From his luxurious quarters aboard what is, in game terms, a Space Outpost, but functions more as a castle from which he rules over his modest space empire (whilst his sister, wife and younger son manages his estates on Carrak itself), he gives orders, almost immediately, to initiate contact with the unknown ship, and to keep information regarding the encounter from the rest of the Imperium's many eyes for as long as possible while his family reaps the benefits.

The return signals are essentially mimics of the whole "we give you raw materials, you give us cool gadgets" schpiel, but with an odd focus on the images, a byproduct of their technology adapting around their enormous compound eyes. Nevertheless, the intent is clear.

[The Clans]

Explorer-Executive Chygis was absolutely elated upon receiving the return transmission. There were generally two fates for the crew of scout ships. Either they died horrifically, or languished in obscurity as a slave or moderately comfortable in retirement if enough minerals were surveyed and tomb sites plundered. While the job was necessary for the survival of the fleet, no one performed it out of a sense of duty. They performed it precisely for just a moment like this. To find and broker trade relations with alien species. Despite the perils of scouting ahead of the fleet, scout ships had first dibs on trade relations and everyone on deck profited, most especially its Executive.

The corvette sized ship moves through the system at speeds unheard of to the Imperium with its impulse thrusters. A transmission is sent to the castle-station showing an animation of the corvette coming alongside the station to dock with it.

[Vagrant Hero]

A section of the station lights up, showing where to dock. Inside, serfs and laborers prepare some materials for showing right away. Golden Thorns' household guard prepare themselves for a fight in case this is a ruse, but somehow, they have a feeling that God had blessed them all this day. Technicians keep an eye on the approaching craft, attempting to learn all they can from it while at their stations. Minios himself will attend the initial meeting, a sign of good faith he hopes.

Time progresses.

[The Clans]

Alluring bird like aliens exit from the docked vessel. They enter wearing form fitting environmental suits that showcase every bit of their humanoid anatomy. None of their suits bear any markings, coat of arms, or even different colors to indicate rank, nothing but the logo of their company on each upper arm.

They bring nothing with them aboard that isn't already fastened to their suits. Namely personal laser weapons mounted on their dominant wrist and wrist mounted computers with screens micrometers thick that also function as holographic display projections.

They teach the natives their trade language with their pleasing vocal tones, using centuries of refined linguistic techniques and visual representations tailor made to express business and trade. In these early stages, barter and the direct exchange of goods was the focus of their lessons.

[Vagrant Hero]

[What do these bird like aliens think of 8-limbed mantis things running a space station like this? Par for the course? 'Cause these birds are definitely attracting a lot of attention, considering avians are a delicacy on their homeworld. Evolutionary science had it all wrong!]

Once scouts dock aboard the station, they are greeted by several of the Folc, the tallest among them only being about 4 feet in height, but they are significantly longer than they are tall. Wearing fibrous outfits of some sort as well as a mask/goggle implement worn over the compound eyes, with a turban-like piece of clothing wrapped around the head, neck and shoulders, they beckon the aliens to follow them out of the hangar and into a cozier room, where they may properly discuss matters. Temperatures aboard the station are a couple degrees above the freezing point of water.

The Folc aboard the station are wearing various different uniforms and outfits. Most are wearing a spider silk garment with other fibrous material around their heads and thoraxes. There are only two bannermen with powered armor, and no mechs, but there are plenty of light infantry, armed with long rifles and push daggers. They all stand at ease at various points as the boarding party walk pass.

Minios himself is there, opulent and resplendent in the colors of his house, gold and red. His legs are folded against his abdomen, arms resting as he stares intently at the aliens who have come aboard. What passes for a linguist, a librarian and a priest all attempt to help with the translation process. He waits for the aliens to make the first move, which is, presumably, to begin the initiation of the Folc into a space cult of doom and destruction.

[The Clans]

If the Chakos were disturbed by the insectoids, they did not show it. If they were disgusted or had any other emotions toward what their primitive ancestors would eat, other than profiting off them, they do not show it. Over the course of their upbringing as fledglings they had seen an untold number of strange species and had been made jaded to the sight of them. Any residual feelings of hunger from seeing giant examples of their food had been stamped out by a lifetime of consuming nutrient paste. They stood easily at their average five foot height, give or take a few inches, and showed no discomfort at the cold in their suits that they never remove.

Over the course of no more than a day, they had taught the three Folc the basic words of their trading language, complete with handy charts of phonetic lettering for both the Folc and trading tongue in parentheses aside each word along with verbal pronounciation by a prerecorded voice when the word is tapped and a rough translation in the Folc tongue.

With their preparations complete, they speak the first message of their true intent. If they were to induct them into a diabolical cult, it wouldn't be until at least step 7 of their master plan. Surely. "We represent the company Far Star Investments and Holdings. We have come to exchange mining equipment to increase mining efficiency, for refined metal alloys."

[Vagrant Hero]

The efforts to teach the Cirn translator and Lord Minios the Chakosan trade language are mostly successful. However, the Folc are unable to pronounce most of the words due to how their mouths are shaped. However, a soundboard is quickly devised where each words are strung together at each tap on the board. A more complex version will be made in the future, with a low-level aritificial intelligence interpreting commands and "speaking," but this will do for now.

The Folc are slowly warming up to the Chakos as time goes on, with the guards not noticeably relaxing to the Chakos due to their almost supernatural stillness, but their attention is starting to wander. Speculation about where these aliens come from, what they want (since they were not informed about the reasons for this occasion), how powerful they are, and most importantly, what pheromones they must be emitting to make the Folc want to trust them. They conveniently forget the fact that their suits are completely environmental. Not the brightest, these bannermen.

"Before any trades are made, I would like to have some evidence of the utility of this mining equipment. Once that is done, we can discuss payment," taps Lord Minios, "of which I can assure you will be to our mutual benefit."

On a completely unrelated note, a barge, just back from transporting a load of raw materials to Carrak, is coming in through the wormhole station at the edge of the system. What luck!

[The Clans]

(Their trade language is designed to be spoken by almost any species, even ones that communicate in obscure ways like flashing lights and pheremone emissions. Their vocal cords are like a parrot's, able to mimic almost any sound they hear, so once they know a species' vocal range, if it has one, they make alterations to the language.)

Those in Executive Chygis' entourage that do not directly assist with the translation proceedings or assist her seem to just be there for show. They bear no other markings, or wear any more or less equipment. They mostltly stand bored, cycling through looking at what could be assumed to be internal communications or status readings on their arms, to crossing their arms over their chests, to placing their hands on their hips, to bending backwards to allieve backpain and walk aimlessly to work out stiffness in their legs. They bow, salute, and wave at the bannermen when they're caught being looked at to allieve the awkwardness of the language barrier. Like the bannermen, they were not involved in the translating and the ensuing negotiations and were just there to be there while their leader did the actual work.

Executive Chygis addresses Lord Minios directly, her spoken words appearing as words on her holographic display for his convenience, "Would you prefer a visual demonstration, technical specifications, or both? Our catalog features side by side visual and technical specifications as well as previous customer reviews and rankings." She goes silent for a momemt while those aboard her ship go nuts after detecting wormhole signitures in the system.

She makes an audibly pleasing churring sound before speaking again, whether Minios was just about to speak or was in the middle of his reply. "My crew have informed me that your people still use antiquated worm hole technology. We possess engines that allow us to travel the stars freely without the restricted range of a generator, or the expense in maintaining one."

Chygis was mentally freaking out, and for the same reason that her bretheren were. She had studied the art of swapping early wormhole users over to warp drives. She hadn't personally paid much attention to the effects of extra dimensional beings purging life from the galaxy. As a scout, it was her job to identify and report back to the fleet, as well as to convince and sell aliens on the idea of warp drives. If she didn't seize this opportunity to make a profit jumpstarting a warpdrive market then one of the board directors or department heads would. This was her chance to set up a Far Star franchise in this system, and even the systems beyond.

[Vagrant Hero]

The bannermen are uncertain about how to react to this behavior. Their orders are to maintain a watchful vigil on these newcomers, and intervene if they behaved in a hostile manner. However, they were having a hard time figuring out whether their strange gesticulations were hostile or not. So they continue staring, significantly more curious than before. The Cirnii do not have a stigma attached to staring at people, since visual cues make up a large part of their communication, which is probably making the Chakos uncomfortable. The most significant motion that comes from any of them is an extremely slight swaying of balance from right to left, as well as the sudden turning of heads to focus on a new object.

Minios replies, "a visual demonstration will suffice. Now, on the subject of-"/"My crew have informed me that your people still use antiquated worm hole technology. We possess engines that allow us to travel the stars freely without the restricted range of a generator, or the expense in maintaining one."

Silence.

Minios is no fool. This uncharacteristic interruption has roused him out of his previous comfort with the Chakos, raising his suspicions, but of what, he isn't quite sure. More information required. "Tell me more about these ... engines. What other benefits do they provide, and how are they used?" There are no physical tells, but the Chakos get a sense of alertness from the Lord. Tread carefully.

[The Clans]

The constant staring was indeed uncomfortable, but not unexpected given their roles as guards. They keep their mysterious, but really just bored, movements with no real change, except they stop acknowledging the existence of the guards when their gestures are not returned.

Chygis had no idea that she was dealing with a nobleman who personally owned the system. A nobleman who might be able to use and exploit unrestricted movement to expand his holdings under the eyes of the emperor. To her, he was the head of the station and was obviously rich or important, likely with some degree of influence in the mining industry.

She answers him truthfully, "The engines envelops a ship in a field and forms a bubble of subspace that allows the ship to reach velocities greater than the speed of light. With wormhole technology, only two places may be connected at a time, ships are at the mercy of the time schedule s of the wormhole generator. While one group goes to one system, others must wait for a new wormhole to be generated. It is not that big of a concern until ship traffic multiplies and the number of destinations increases. With warp drives there is no waiting to be allowed to exit a system, mineral and supply shipments can come and go as they please and energy used to maintain wormhole stations put to more worthwhile uses. Training in their operation is included in the purchase price."

[Vagrant Hero]

'Very, very interesting,' Minios thought to himself. And no doubt, the Chakos make a massive profit from the sale of these void-engines. But they reveal much in what they do not say. Let's see how far they will go.' "While undoubtedly useful, the Imperium would have to buy engines for each and every one of their vessels, redesign the navy entire to use them, and diffuse the maintenance crews that could be put to use on a centralized location, the generator. And it will be many, many generations before such traffic, as you mentioned, will become a problem. The money saved on engines could be put into a secondary, or tertiary, however many wormhole stations we need to handle them. So, what other reasons are there to make this switch."

Minios fully intends on acquiring these engines anyway, but the bait has been set. He wants to get as much information out of these traders as possible before closing the deal.

[The Clans]

Chygis allows the lord to frame the focus of the conversation and answers his question, "Farstar personally uses its own engines. We are a company, and a people, who live exclusively in space on starships. Our biology does not allow us to live anywhere else. As such, we can not afford to be at the mercy of and have our travel restricted by planet based governments. There exists a third method of faster than light travel, hyperlanes that are roads between stars. These are faster than warp or wormholes, but are easily mapped and restricted by whoever controls the space around the destined stars. We have the means to build wormholes and the resources to maintain a network of generators, but not the means to defend a hypothetical network from those who would exploit us. We prefer the freedom of warp to the restrictions of other means." Extradimensional beings could come later.

She resumes her sales pitch to address his previous concerns. "If your navy is of considerable size, then we can easily arrange a bulk discount for a single test fleet of military or supply ships. Our maintenance repair tutorials are just as comprehensive as our language. If maintenance staffing is still an issue, we can also offer the sale of drive specialists, the care of which is largely handled by our environment suits except for nutrition, which is easily reconstituted in the most basic of chemistry labs."

[Vagrant Hero]

'And the baits been taken.' "Forgive me," he taps, "but I thought you said that the wormholes were an antiquated means of transit. Now, you say the primary benefit is increased freedom." If he was actually speaking, he would sound very, very sly. Regardless, his body language reads as predatory. "Which one is it, Chygis? Are wormholes antiquated and too expensive, or simply uneconomical for your spacefaring race?"

Minios' intuition has zero'd him in like tunnel-vision, almost ignoring the rest of what was said. Suspicions of an ulterior motive seem vindicated at this point.

[The Clans]

Chygis sighs in her culture's equivelent of an eyeroll, thankful that there is enough of a language barrier for the gesture to be ambiguous. I never thought dirt people would see deceit from their own shadows. "These two situations are not mutually exclusive. Because they are inefficient and expensive, they are uneconomical for our own purposes. Radio signals can transmit across stars, feasible as it is it is uneconomical to do so with faster than light transmissions. The fault is not in our application of the technology, it is inherent in its existence. Waves on the electromagnetic spectrum cannot move faster than light. Steam power cannot propel starships, wormholes restrict movement of civilian and government ships and cost more resources than necessary to build, maintain and rebuild if user error or military action renders them inoperable. I know that you know the amount of energy that must be expended to construct and tear one wormhole. This compounds when multiple ones must be continually constructed, collapsed, and constructed again. In the interest of building mutual trust for mutual trade I am being straightforward with you."

[Vagrant Hero]

'And now, the switch. "If that is truly all there is to it, then I suppose you should be on your way then, shouldn't you friend Chygis? I am sure that our Imperium will survive using these horribly uneconomic wormhole generators that can take us from one end of our space to the other in mere hours instead of weeks or months, for generations to come."

Minios is trying to force them to reveal whatever it is they are hiding. He 'knows' they are hiding something. This whole situation seems unnaturally fishy to him, and he's hoping they will break. Why would they be so concerned about wormhole technology, when by their own admission, the benefits are there for an empire who can afford to defend them? Speaking of, this implies that there are far more aliens out there from which to defend against, but no matter.

[The Clans]

And Chygis does not follow through. "I don't know why I would leave if you still have an interest in our mining equipment. Warp and hyperdrives are but two items in our catalog. Do you still want to see our drills and mining lasers in action?" As a mere representative, a glorified salesbird for Farstar with the smallest potential to rocket to the top of the megacorp's organizational structure, her primary interest laid in securing sales. If the customer was not interested in being shown flashy and expensive top of the line products, she would go back to showing more practical ones.

[Vagrant Hero]

Minios stares even more intensely than before. Which looks exactly the same, but he's frustrated that she's effectively not told him what he wanted to know. His patience is up, so he'll try a more direct approach. "I am more interested in what you are not telling me." He rises to his intimidating height of approximately 5 feet four inches tall, but his demeanor makes him seem much larger. "Why the hard sell on these warp and hyperdrive engines? Why these appeals when wormholes are perfectly serviceable for a "planetbound" civilization? What are you not saying?"

The bannermen, not understanding the conversation since all they see is Lord Minios tapping on a tablet soundboard, react negatively by staring even more grimly than before, and far less curiously, ready for any hostilities to break out.

[The Clans]

Chygis tries her hardest to not get flustered. She really does, but actually interacting with another species was frustrating her immensely. Could they not see and understand the benefits of such a large and lucrative bulk purchase?! "What I am.not telling you? There's a major profit margin in buying starship parts from the company on credit and reselling them to you? More so than mining equipment? Enough to purchase the rights for my own factory to make and sell for even less than the initial offer, but sell more of them? Can you not see the mutual advantages to such a deal? The sale of capital is immensely profitable, but not as profitable as government infrastructure and military contracts. What more do you want me to say? That energy beings from the fifth dimension spill out of wormholes and annihilate all life like robot rebellions?" Though she was verbally and physically calm and protected, her frustrations poured out into her actual words, that of her own mutual self interest and the dimensional invaders, something that everyone learns about and believes to a varying extent.

[Vagrant Hero]

Minios freezes, becoming even more still than before, except for his antennae which are now twitching erratically. A very long pause. "You aren't jesting, are you. Please, tell me you are not joking." His mind is wandering back to the scripture which he learned so long ago. The purpose of the First Messiah's mission. Unity, to face the apocalypse said to come at the end of days. 'The demons will come from the void God had banished them into, to wreak havoc on the world of the living once again. Only through singularity of purpose can they be sent back to the Hells at the edge of Being, and the World made safe once more.' The theological meaning of this verse has been debated over the millenia, but with expansion into space, many theologions have begun to think that it was just another verse added in to scare people into believing, but if what Chygris said was true...

Minios' bannermen are extremely confused at this point, having literally no idea what is going on. They slowly begin to calm down.

[The Clans]

And then Chygis completely misunderstood his meaning and said something that she would reflect back upon in retirement at how naive and blind she was in her youth, "Joking about my profit margins? No they're-"

And she is cut off by another member of her entourage that approaches. "You mean the extradimensional beings, correct?" A holographic projection shoots up out of her arm computer showing unsettlingly foreign and alien ships crewed by beings of pure energy and the catastrophic weaponry they used against ships and those used on planets that eradicated all life but left their buildings and infrastructure intact.

[Vagrant Hero]

Every single one of the Cirnii in this room immediately recoil from the projection, chittering amongst themselves. A single word can be made out from all the gibberish going on. Unholda. "They've been here before, haven't they? Unholda. Demons. The artifacts in the old museums show angels of light fighting over control of the heavens with these creatures, many years ago. From before the count of time began. Unbelievable."

[The Clans]

The newcomer continues to speak. Since this has gotten a different reaction out of the Folc, Chygis allows her to continue talking. They were part of the same trade mission, after all, all of their fortunes had the potential to rise from this exchange. "Our people lost our homeworld to them thousands of years ago. Wormholes in their, comparative, low-tech form are not dangerous, but if they are improved to the point to allow literal instantaneous jumps, they could become attracted to this dimension again." In contrast to Chygis' mostly unmoving body, the newcomer constantly fidgeted from the cacophony of chittering choise.

[Vagrant Hero]

"Biwerien, we named them. The Forbidden. To think that the scripture was right after all these years." Minios is drawn ever further into his memories, trying to recall what he could of these demons. One of the unarmored Folc chitters something to him, which he then taps out to the Chakos. "You have my condolences, Chakos. Seeing as we are not all dead, I assume the Angels defeated them. Are they still alive? We owe them a debt we can never repay."

An air of solemnity overtakes the Folc, the room suddenly silent once more.

[The Clans]

She taps on her holographic interface, changing her projection to a galactic map of the old alien empire. Its borders shift and divide into multiple colors that grow and shrink before they all start shrinking to nothing. "If they are, we do not know. We watched them turn and destroy themselves after closing the portal. They had drained their colonies dry in the war effort against, as you say, the Forbidden. Their economy was in ruins, they split apart into several factions that fought against each other for resources. Opportunistic alien empires took advantage and seized some worlds. Galaxy wide labor shortages lead to the creation of sophisticated robotics that then purged what life was left before... Disappearing. We still find ancient god minds inside of ruins with cults of degenerated beings worshipping them. We only escaped the wrath of the machine by hiding in the dark space between stars. We are the last of the old races. If you wish to learn more, we will give you our old records."

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