haseri
Satellite Scribe
Posts: 18
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Post by haseri on May 3, 2010 9:53:50 GMT
"Dear, they sent another message. They want us to go over there. One of us, at least."
Pasck listened to the message. "Well, I can't say no to some complimentary nibbles. What else did the report on them say?"
Thrani chose that moment to walk past the bridge. "'Despite their disposition, which nearly sent me to insanity, I could not fault them for being excellent hosts.' I've sent the request for 'primitive ritual arena combats' back home. They should have something archived."
"I suppose at least one station filmed a graduation ceremony at one point."
"Mine was." The two females looked at the captain. Graduation ceremonies that extreme was only for fertiles. "Well, for the fertiles in my class, anyway. They were always filmed. Highlight of the year, watching some uppity fertile wrestling a Cori," he paused, cocking his head to one side, "and themselves."
Thrani just nodded. "Right. Well, I'll send them over as soon as we receive them."
"I'll tell them that when I send them the captain's co-ordinates. Now remember, when you get there, be nice, especially to the other races, the ones we haven't met. We don't want an incident on our hands."
Pasck wasn't listening. "I've never been transported by ether-beam. Do you think it would hurt?"
The two had only been married a short while, and had no idea what it actually meant, so they had decided that it meant admonishing each other every so often. "I hope so, dear. Quicker than a shuttle at any rate."
Foamanyr finished up the message to the Vothl ship, detailing whatever ever was needed for the ether-beam to work, as well as telling them the arena stuff would being sent as soon as they got it.
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Post by Brandonazz on May 3, 2010 19:10:38 GMT
"It seems a veritable conference is in order." The Primary nodded tepidly as he slid his arms through the full length of his official attire. A large white piece of fabric, it was patterned with an ever-branching fractal design of the striking teal color that dominated the skies of his home planet at midday. It was always a good idea to look presentable for first contacts, as they were disappointingly few and far between.
"Primary." The officer glanced over to the source of the clipped utterance. It was the regulations and protocol review analyst.
"Yes?"
"This undertaking is advised strongly against by a number of different regulations regarding the conduct of missions with purely scientific and observational goals." He paused. "This vessel lacks a crewmember with full-class xenodiplomatic credentials."
"These are special circumstances; time is of the essence and there are no free-range exploration vessels on active duty at the moment. Besides, all Primaries have basic credentials. The full extent only regards the establishment of trade, prolonged contact, and so forth, you know that."
"You've already received information and given them something in return."
"Nonsense," The Primary brushed the air in dismissal with his digits. "It was a simple greeting procedure."
The analyst sighed in resignation and worry.
"Be careful Primary, always pursue knowledge with care."
"Knowledge with care," repeated the Primary. The exploratory commission's motto.
Taking sweeping strides, he moved to the communications terminal.
//"This is Primary Elusethe. I have been elected to represent this crew."//
He paused.
//"I will be accompanied by Analyst Shess."//
The protocol analyst glanced up at him.
"Eight eyes are better than four," said the Primary.
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Flisch
Satellite Scribe
Posts: 35
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Post by Flisch on May 3, 2010 20:52:32 GMT
Rayas didn't know what to think about this. He has never heard of an expedition crew being invited to the other ship upon the first contact. Two thoughts were fighting with each other in his head. Was it a trap? Or just their... style of greeting new species? After a couple of seconds Rayas made a decision. The chance of offending the other race is higher than the actual danger they expose themselves to, at least that's what he thought. Plus, what's space exploration without taking risks?
Now he would have to gather someone to come with him to the other ship. The choices were pretty clear. With a mental command he set up a connection to his Xenolinguist. "Bray, I want you to escort me and Denyer to our hosts. Wait for us in the shuttle hangar. We'll be there in a minute." "Make that two minutes." Bray answered in a slightly irritated voice. Apparently Rayas just woke him up or interrupted him during something else.
The captain cut the link and raised his voice again: "Denyer, you come with me. I hope I won't need you, but better safe than sorry, huh?" Denyer just nodded, as it was his personality. He was a master in all sorts of hand-to-hand combat styles. Well, at least the best one Rayas could afford. And he was also rather adept with a gun as well, which makes him the perfect body guard in case things should go awry.
As the duo walked towards the door, Rayas turned to his communication officer. "Send him a message, that we are three... Oh, and of course send them the apropriate data for our environment bubbles. Gravity, atmosphere, and what you've got." "Aye aye, captain!" he answered in an almost playful manner.
Right before they left the doors, Rayas stopped and turned to his communication officer again. "They also still haven't told us their name. Ask them about it and call me again."
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Post by Josasa on May 5, 2010 23:11:26 GMT
The captain had been awaiting such a response and the crew members had been prepared beforehand. When he gave the go ahead, four Amorusk boarded the smaller transport and readied themselves to speak with the assortment of aliens.
Two of the Amorusk were Aran, the largest and strongest gender of the race. These were the heavy lifters, ready to shoulder any heavy burdens the exploration team came across. One was an Eren who was the nurse of the group, if anything harmful befell the team. The final one was an Irin, the experienced diplomat of the group. He would be handling any conversations that cropped up with the other species.
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KrakowSAM
Satellite Scribe
You know whats coming.
Posts: 23
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Post by KrakowSAM on May 6, 2010 19:09:52 GMT
"Ether-beam go!"
The Macaclo ship emitted its transport beam and swept across the other ships, carefully teleporting each away team into a force-field containing an appropriate environment and a few service bots holding trays of foods hastily designed based on biological data the Macaclo had on each species.
The field bubbles were contained in a cavernous section of the Macaclo ship. Various trees and foliage were cultivated here and there, and several parts of the chamber were given over to rocky terrain through which streams of water gurgled and drained into ponds or patches of swampy mud. Numerous Macaclo hung from tree branches, wallowed in swampy pools or simply reclined on rocks or constructed seats.
At the center of the room a large bulky object was obscured by some sort of light-scattering field, rendering it, for the moment, an indistinct sandy smear.
"Hello!" said the Captain, enthusiastically "It is good to look on you all bulb to bulb. I'm sure you have much to talk about with each other while we prepare our demonstration. Floor opaqueness minimum!"
The hull under the assembled alien guests flickered slightly and became invisible, revealing a clear view of the solar system, and the small rocky planet around which the Macaclo ship was in orbit. The red giant nearby cast a harsh red light upward.
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Post by Brandonazz on May 6, 2010 20:16:15 GMT
Elusethe, glancing at the environment around himself, started at the sudden disappearance of the floor beneath him. His eyes wandered across the strangely-pigmented vegetation and landscaping that now seemed to hover in space over a red-tinged starscape. He shifted them cautiously at the obscured structure at the room's center.
Eventually, they came to rest on the colorful creature several feet below him who had just spoken to them through a translation matrix. He bowed stiffly and voiced sincere thanks for their hospitality.
"Ah, what is this?" Primary Elusethe turned toward a teetering group of small robots holding trays of various colorful and enticing objects. "Food?"
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Post by Josasa on May 6, 2010 20:48:57 GMT
The four Amorusk each took one piece of food and popped into into their mouths with their tentacles. It was a sign of being a good guest, especially if the food was being offered to them. However, they held it in their mouth and refrained from digesting it. They had read the reports of the practical joke one of the Macaclo delegates had played on one of their own. They weren't about to fall prey to that again.
Polona, the Irin Head Diplomat spoke up when they had finally adjusted to their small habitat bubble.
"Lovely scenery you have here. I congratulate you on your choice of shrubbery and rocks. I especially like the small river setup."
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Flisch
Satellite Scribe
Posts: 35
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Post by Flisch on May 6, 2010 22:48:14 GMT
Rayas was just entering the shuttle when they were teleported onto the others' ship. Of course, he should have expected this, but he was the captain of an exploration vessel and taking a shuttle is usually the way to get off the ship.
As soon as the trio materialised, Rayas instinctively ducked as he thought he was touching the ceiling, but of course the proportions of the environment and the size of the other species were playing a trick on his mind.
He took his time to examine the room they were sent to. It was a strange sight: A rather natural environment with all sorts of vegetation and even a river. Rayas could see several of the Macaclo lying, hanging or sitting around casually, as if it was a park and not a meeting of several races and in the middle was a large undefinable bulb which didn't fit into the scenery at all.
And then the speaking Macaclo took the strangeness to the next level by making the floor invisible. Ignoring the robots offering him food, Rayas looked down at the rocky planet that just became visible and asked: "So, this is what you found?"
This better be more than just a big piece of dirt, he thought Or I'm done for...
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