Post 026:
"Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument."
—Covenant transmission from the Prophet of Regret to the UNSC during the Battle of Harvest
Star 32-B, Edge of Yaerian Republic Space
YEV “Stardew Vast”
October 4th, 2128 AD, 25 GS.It had been almost a full week since the probe had arrived. It scanned and scanned, never actually sending communications towards the vessel. Sure, it had sent off what seemed to be communications, but it was alien, entirely unlike anything the Yaerians had seen, and the Xenologists onboard the ship was simply fascinated by the ship itself. Although it was obvious that the ship was inefficient, almost primitively stunted due to its mass fabricated nature, It showed qualities that were decades or centuries ahead of Yaerian technology, while being simultaneously more basic than the simplest of Yaerian Engineered projects. It never responded to attempts of commune, it only repeated the same message every forty-seven minutes, on the dot.
By the time the Explorator fleet had arrived, the first manned mission to the probe had begun, a shuttle drifting through the realm of the stars to interact with the tiny probe. The mission was very promptly canceled, as no less than forty-seven vessels had entered the system, at the rate they were speeding towards the vessel, they would arrive in just a four days worth of time.
They responded to no signals, electromagnetic or Hyperwave, they were jetting towards them with the silence of a predator, their steel jaws encapsulating and covering the prey and like a fool, the Yaerians had let it happen.
This was the first victory of the Unitarian Empire.
Star 32-B, Edge of yaerian Republic Space
Unitarian Fleet Bastion “Commanding Presence” of the First Explorator Fleet
October 4th, 2128, 25 GS“Linguistics Team, give me a status report.”
“Yes, Fleet Lord. The Ship Automaton has already cracked how their commune protocols function from the data report by the Probe, and in ten minutes we shall be able to project an approximate linguistic message.”
“That fast? Incredible work, this shall an easy campaign.”
The bridge of the Commanding Presence bustled with activity, technicians and Curators all worked on cataloging the exact readings and outputs of the sensor feeds pointed at the lone ship. It was large, it was obviously sophisticated by its delicate looking sensor fins, high energy output reactor and the utterly strange Warp readings it was giving off. The Fleet Lord guessed their subjugation would be harder than the other races, perhaps not as hard as the Brugs, but still hard. He idly noted the few Irrega’Gald working in the posts they had been placed. For a species so recently joining the Unitarian Empire, they had the spirit and sentience to work greatly in the complex, civilized notions of the War in Space, Even if they were utterly hideous. He wondered what this species would look like, Perhaps they would be pleasing to the eye unlike any other species found, that would be his Empress given day.
Star 32-B, Edge of Yaerian Republic Space
YEV “Stardew Vast”
October 8th, 2128 AD, 25 GS.“They are now in weapons range…”
Captain Uriss Nahtilius was frankly at his wits end. They didn’t attempt to speak a lick of “first contact” communications, just to their stars-damned probe. Although he had to call backup to Fleet Command, they *denied* it on the basis of friendly negotiations. Friendly negotiations don’t happen when a fleet of forty-eight ships sped to them like meteors slamming at the moon, and he did not like the looks of their ships. Fabricated, without the elegance of a true ship, and absolutely bristling with incredible energy signatures, far bigger than what would be needed for Magnetic or guided weapons, it was almost confusing, and theories had been abounding the entire ship when the sensor output was leaked to the ship as a whole. [He put his money on Yuur’Tilla, damn woman had no sense.]
He briefly wondered if firing a warning shot would cause them to communicate, when they had done just that, communicate.
A data signal, in Yaerian Sub-light Communication Protocols for Audio and video, had come to them.
“Isolate A terminal and broadcast the message to one of my screens, Frame.”
“As you wish, Captain.”
“Attention… “Yaerian”.
You have been discovered and founded. You are no longer alone in the stars, for by the Empresses guidance we have come and found you as brothers and sisters. We offer you time to prepare for arrival on your starboard docking port, and once you are ready we will send a ship to board yours, to allow for better diplomatic negotiations.
“By the stars above, their ships are huge, I thought that damn sensor technician was lying. Do you think they will be as peaceful as they claim?
-- Quaestix’Pruskium-Kaluchian Marine aboard the Stardew Vast
“Lord, They are maneuvering to expose their starboard flank, sending boarding vessel now.
--Sensor Technician of the Commanding Presence
It was odd, damned aliens had thought of everything with the ship they sent. It was confusing that they requested a docking even though in all likelihood our docking cords would be completely different, yet it still worked anyways, he had no stars-damned clue how that worked. The amount of technology that came into that must've been astounding, he’d have bet his hat for that.
Here he stood, in the entrance room holding a rifle, and he’s gonna meet the first set of aliens that the Yaerians will have peace with. Probably. He remembered the theories of all sentient life being hostile to the Yaerian way of life and shivered, just slightly. If that was true, what were they planning? He clutched his rifle, looking at it t noting all its features to calm him down.
It was a mark three Magna-Rifle, It’s magnetic accelerator would send down bolts of plasma at its designated target with the speed of a rock thrown at its fullest, and it was nothing to play around with. The containment cells for the gas, the heat sinks, and every other little part was particularly notable for having been replaced with high-grade spec-ops variants. It was a damn fine gun.
He hoped it would be enough if he needed it.
Three, loud knocks, and the Unitarian ship was docked. Already it’s internal systems adapting itself to the unknowns of alien architecture, and Guardian Aether teams had begun their work in breaking into the internet-works of the Alien ship.
Did the Aether teams succeed?By the stars above and below, where the hell has I been for seven days, three hours and six minutes!?
It was a long story, that ultimately boiled down to me trying to jam two chapters worth of story times into one chapter and making a final out of it. Spoiler alert, I got writing block! And uh...School... Tests...Relatives coming along... a bitchin' DnD session that I GM... The works! I promise I'll try and keep my usual pace, but might just slow down instead. this is 12AM right now, so I'm gonna nod off after I finish this, g'night. I hate, HATE leaving cliff hangers but I have to with this kind of suggestion format and it kills me, honest!