Leia Nash's Story

Prying eyes watched as the alien ship made it's way through the dark and endless void of space. In the Isirian Sector of the Aschen Empire, watchful eyes kept their ever vigilant gaze on the approaching alien craft...

Watchtower I-324
Isirian Deep Space Border Station
Commander Marcus Jacobsen

All was quiet aboard the lone Aschen watchtower, which resembled a small planetoid, spherical in construction and bathed in a dark iridescent hue of gunmetal and carbon black.

Watchtowers were specialized Aschen defensive platforms, designed to broadcast an FTL inhibition field, and ion storms out for several AU, they made ideal 'Walls' in space, and were often used by the Aschen Empire as just that, walls to protect their borders.

The Commander had just come in for the morning watch, relieving his watch officer, he moved to sit in front of his desk, which was placed in the center of a massive spherical room, large holographic screens displaying everything from star charts, to Aschen fleet placements. All distributed in a sleek interface for the Commander to peruse.

It was then a small red blip flashed on one of the massive screens in front of him. Perhaps it was an anomaly, surely nothing came through this far out.

He watched the red icon closely as it flashed, there was a brief pause, and text flashed under the icon.

"No IFF, Signal Unconfirmed."

The Commander scowled, and a lieutenant near the large screen turned.

"DRADIS Contact, three one nine carom one one five." He called out, the AI Chiming in.

"Unidentified vessel, Three... one... nine... carom... one one... five, Constant bearing, decreasing range."

Shortly after the AI Chimed in, lights turned from white to red, and an alarm began to klaxxon.

"Eltee, sitrep!" The Commander called out, turning in his chair to face one of the Lieutenants.

"Unknown vessel, CBDR. Appears to be a scout ship of some kind. No weapons detected, it's broadcasting hails on several frequencies."

The Commander nodded. "Signal the closest fleet, I think it's Admiral Nash's fleet."

The AI Nodded in acknowledgement, and the Commander grabbed the intercom.

"Attention Watchtower, we are condition red, this is not a drill, all hands, action stations! All batteries stand by for contact, Combat teams prepare to repel boarders!" He ordered, as screens flickered and darkened, all zooming on the lone ship.

"Lieutenant Hera, send a hostile challenge and ID, push the reply up on the speakers." Jacobsen ordered, while the young olive skinned Lieutenant Hera flipped several switches, and keyed in a dial.

"Attention unknown vessel, this is the Watchtower of the United Aschen Empire's Isirian Task Force; you are in restricted space. Identify yourselves or you will be terminated."

Lieutenant Carter turned towards Commander Jacobsen.

"Response from the fleet, they're out twenty SUs, response time is one millicenton."

"Countdown! One Millicenton! Launch defensive phalanx and prepare for action." Jacobsen ordered, while another screen flickered on.

"10:00, 09:59, 09:58..."

“Woah, that got their attention.” Ganden eavesdropped on the comms chatter when Elandra expertly calibrated the relays to where they can listen on any distant electrostatic chatter and had it translated through a telemetry filters based on any borrowed languages on hand.

“Sounds like the generic language to me.” Elandra stated letting her musings filter into the Captain’s and Karll’s synapses. They exchanged looks and nodded. “Ambassador Greyshaw, report to the bridge. You may want to see this.” Tyrena spoke idly without taking her concentration off the intercepted channels. Owyn fluidly relayed the command to the Ambassador’s personal quarters without any crude intercoms to make it as if the ambassador was just in the next room.

“They’re deploying small craft in a defensive patterns and hailing nearby ships, we have to make this quick or we may have to abort.” The Karll warned. The Aschen weren’t slow on their responsiveness and as he predicted their reaction were going to be more of a hostile persuasion than anything.

“That watchtower of theirs is battle station of sorts...” Jereth said as he skimmed the real-time scans then closed his eyes momentary as if going into a trance then opened his eyes again, flaring a little as he did. “By a closer look it’s similar to our class C Star Rath.” The officer wasn’t satisfied though he only wished there was the deep penetrating scanning capabilities on the Tratos like from warships he served on previously to get more information. It was his habit as a former gunnery officer to get as much information as possible for targeting.

“Come off of it, Jereth this isn’t a warship.” Karll caught him when he picked up his drifting psionic waves through the core just then.

"Old habits die hard.” Owyn opined to pull up the updated alien disposition on the display to justify the security officer's caution. “Yet it does help us in case of a mishap. The quicker we respond to their hails the better, the Aschen are reacting quickly and aggressively.”

“Plotting to go to war already I see? Well then, guess my job here is done” Ambassador Moriegh Greyshaw said facetiously upon entering the bridge.

“My apologies ambassador we’re following standard operations procedure. We’re ready to transmit.” Tyrena said. Greyshaw nodded then closed his eyes a moment to focus all the while being updated on the situation then he began speaking.

“United Aschen Empire Watchtower I am Ambassador Moreigh Greyshaw, we come in peace. I repeat we come in peace, cease any impending hostilities we mean no harm.” The Ambassador spoke in his natural language but his words including all correct words, phrases and etymologies associated with the borrowed language transitioned was seamless as if generic was his natural tongue. As part of the first contact package his transmission transferred a real-time image of him for a video and audio feed electronically compatible for a clean transmission. The Ambassador was a tall and slender man with dark blue-gray skin, white hair and pointed ears.

Alarms continued to klaxxon as the Watchtower prepared for action.

The countdown continued as the Commander stared intently at the various holographic screens flickering and displaying the approaching scout ship.

"Fleet's out half a millicenton and counting!" Lieutenant Carter called out, and Commander Jacobsen nodded, while a second Helmsman called out.

"Reply coming in, patching it onto the speakers." He called out, while his hands moved across holographic keys, entering the proper protocols into the keyboard.

“United Aschen Empire Watchtower I am Ambassador Moreigh Greyshaw, we come in peace. I repeat we come in peace, cease any impending hostilities we mean no harm.”

As the voice came through the speakers, the bridge crew quieted a moment, while the Commander picked up the telephone handset that was tied into communications.

"Ambassador Greyshaw, this is Watchtower Actual." The Commander said into the phone. "You are instructed to maintain minimum distance from this station, of one half of a Solar unit, failure to comply will result in Abrasive action. A diplomatic envoy has been summoned and will reach this position in half a millicenton. Hold position until such time as the fleet arrives to process first contact protocols."

Five minutes ticked by, second by second until the Aschen Fleet of Righteous Vigilance arrived.

The first two vessels, Second Generation reverences were the ones to arrive first. Large and heavily armed planetary assault carriers jumping into the fray with a brilliant flicker of light and a powerful energy spike. Each second generation Reverence was easily thirty kilometers long, and had been a staple in the Aschen Military as one of their most powerful vessels, with a single one being capable of subjugating an entire star system.

The two Reverence IIs were then backed up by a fleet of several hundred vessels, most of them first generation Reverence PACs, each roughly four kilometers in length, these vessels were supplemented by a fleet of 500 meter long Battlecruisers, several km long carriers, and support craft.

As they spread out into a Phalanx formation, with the pair of Reverence II's at the head, a female voice would be transmitted to the scout ship.

"Attention unidentified vessel, this is Admiral Leia Nash, of the Reverence II 'Absolution', Attatched to the Aschen Fleet of Righteous Vigilance, I am transmitting docking coordinates, and you are cleared to approach this vessel at speed. We have a pressurized hangar bay capable of accommodating your vessel, when you reach our vessel, our fighter CAP will escort you in. When you are aboard, I will personally answer any inquiries you may have."

Nash nodded to her AI hologram as the female figure spoke.

"Admiral, I have transmitted landing coordinates, and advised this vessel's CAG to provide escort, estimated docking time is two millicentons."

Nash nodded calmly. "Very well, instruct the fleet to hold position, bring us forward, one degree angle nominal."

“That’s much better.” Moreighan remarked mentally on the improved tone of the situation. The captain glanced at him for a moment sensing his momentary respite. “We will comply.” He assured the watchtower then mentally eavesdropping into intercepted chatter carried through by Owyn and Elandra to get impending discrepancies that may rear its ugly head in case these aliens say one thing and mean the other. Caution was paramount at this point in the mission and the ambassador made sure Sy’lenna kept the Tratos static until ordered otherwise with mental connotations through the ship’s core.

“We’re picking up additional contact. Two of them very large, looks like command carrier class. Strike that last, scans report these are planetary assault carriers, class III.” Jereth reported.

“Are we expecting a fight now?” Karll pondered why these aliens are bringing in so much firepower.

“You would hope they’re that stupid.” Captain Tyrena had a sudden change of tone with her arms folded. The ambassador gave her a curious glance which only the Karll could guess what was being said between them through the drift.

Their attention was diverted back to ambassador from a few ripples in the drift when he was instructed to approach one of the PACs at speed. “Mark this bearing.” Karll instructed the helmswoman. Sy’lenna gracefully manipulated the controls through the core to glide the Tratos through the void, ignoring the escorts that were too close for Owyn’s comfort.

“Their dead metal hulls are eerie. No core…there are no songs and the drift is silent. Primitive.” Owyn pondered but his uneasiness was subdued by his mate, the navigator who assured him that these aliens relied on crude means of flying in the void.

“We will not be lost in the belly of the beast the solar wind will dance upon our skin once more.” Glynda spoke in a sing-songy tone with Owyn. The rest of the crew were all too familiar with the eccentric nature of the Ambrites when inserted into a ship’s living core module. The Tratos moved with great alacrity for a ship its size and like a well practiced dancer it landed gracefully into the pressurized hangar.

“Bio threat level is null, no suits or breathers necessary. We’re pretty much immune to whatever nastiness these aliens have.” Jereth opined.

“Nice to know since we don’t plan on let them slobber over us anytime soon, lieutenant.” Karll remarked with coarse sarcasm. “Get your security detail ready. The ambassador will be disembarking momentarily.”

“Rushing me into the bengulas den aren’t we?” Moreighan let a smirk grace his gaunt face while he made some adjustments to his outfit to look his best. He wore the dark purple and gold trim tunic with the white sash around his waist.
“Ready to depart when my security detail is able.” He said giving Tyrena and Ganden look of assurance that he was comfortable with making history.

As the alien ship was guided towards the Aschen Reverence II, the AI maintained constant sensor contact with the strange ship as it moved across imaginary lines towards the ship's massive, and gaping hangar bay.

The closer they got, the more apparent the size was of this massive combat vessel. As they moved along the guided route, a pair of FX-9 Apollo fighters moved alongside the ship as it was being guided towards the Reverence. Two massive Turbodisruptor cannons lazily moved back and fourth.

The most notable thing was the massive hangar bay, which slowly opened up to reveal the innards of the Aschen ship. Docked inside the hangar bay were Battlecruisers, carriers, and other Aschen warships which were undergoing drydock repairs, repainting, refits, and other work that was required of a long haul.

Once inside the massive hangar bay, the door would slide closed under the alien ship, and a pair of docking arms reached out to grasp the ship, which could likely be felt as a slight jerk.

The Aschen LSO standing in a station overlooking the entire bay tapped a few keys, and then keyed the radio.

"Unknown vessel, this is LSO Three, disengage your engines and prepare for manual docking."

Admiral Nash was on her way to meet with the strange aliens, in tow was a towering Oriyak clad in the Aschen Imperial uniform. As the pair moved through the halls after disembarking a tram line, a pair of power armored marines flanked them on either side, armed with rotary plasma cannons, while standard Marines moved in a column of twelve men behind them.

Their steps were well timed as they moved through the airy halls of the Reverence II Planetary Assault Carrier. As Nash moved through, her XO, Sergei Alexandrov thundered behind her.

"Admiral, I vaz expecting Rakinstani ships vith falafel, not some gay circus." He complained, while Nash calmly nodded. "I want to know why they decided to come to this part of Aschen space, given the nature of things. Keep frosty though." She said, a pair of reinforced blast doors opening up in front of her. The blast doors opened to reveal a large platform that lead to the alien ship, as the Marines fanned out to take defensive positions, Nash and Sergei moved down the center of the platform.

"Now we wait." She said calmly.

“Just send us a nav point if able.” Sy’lenna replied tersely via the core in the borrowed language. She did not like the idea of flying into the hangar to relate with Owyn’s discomfort when she got a good glimpse what she was getting the Tratos into. She disengaged the engines just to make these aliens happy and used inertia vectoring to maneuver the Tratos into its designated landing zone. If the aliens attempted to use gravitational fields to forcefully guide the Tratos in they would find it impossible akin to moving the ship its own gravitational anchorage.

“Look sharp, I don’t want these aliens to think we’re a bunch of dirt slogging filth from Karako.” Jereth barked at the security detail in the main hold. These handpicked marines from Ganden and Tyrena done last minute equipment checks and adjusting their armor. The warsworn sergeant, Creed Ma’Thanel the toughest in his Clan and an aspiring chieftain’s champion he was ready to size up these aliens or if need be send them back to their ancestors. The battle staff crackled from his fade energies in his hand, its resonators pulsing with raw energy. “Steady lads.” He spoke in his deep baritone voice.

The Tratos found its parking space in the large bowels of the alien carrier and docked without the need of clamps or landing gear it simply anchored itself off the floor via gravity stabilizers. The ramp below the prow deployed out of a seamless opening then morphed into marble stepping stones which only added to this ship’s exotic attributes. Closer examination of this strange vessel its skin isn’t the typical metalloid make but rather it looked like glass interlaced with a dull material by the nature its angles shimmered by the lights inside the hangar and in other areas it absorbed it to give it a surrealistic glow.

Morieghan sighed a little with some nervousness surfacing. He had to admit this was nothing like the casual clan congregations from before this was the real deal. He tilted his head, crackling his neck in a typical nervous tick. He was the first to come down on the stepping stones off the vessel. He noticed the air was different not from the fact it was due to artificial atmosphere but it ‘weighed’ different than what he was used to as if it was polluted. Captain Tyrena and Karll Ganden flanked him shortly thereafter. Morieghan was clearly the tallest of the two which his imposing profile was useful for negotiations he wasn’t sure if that had the same effect on these aliens despite being more primitive.

The warsworn spread out of the ship the same time the alien soldiers did in response. To the Aschen these visitors and their protection were deceptively lightly armed. Their armor was ghastly in contrast to their vessel. Their dark armor did not sheen like typical metalloid armor. A closer investigation showed the armor was like bone fused in metal that gave it a natural yet inanimate feel. Even more unsettling the full-faced helmet was design like a cowl over a dark glassy mesh to make them faceless with intricate grooves around the eyes to make it like sunken eye sockets in a mild skull-like visage.

“Is this standard procedure?” Tyrena inquired after noticing the warsworn and the alien soldiers taking defensive positions opposite of each other.

“Uh, not normally....” Morieghan whispered in all honesty wondering if he invited himself into a firefight rather than a diplomatic engagement.

It didn't take long for things to become quite tense in the first few moments of the meeting. As Aschen troops and the pair of Power armored Marines took defensive positions behind bulkheads and deployable cover, Admiral Nash and her Oriyak counterpart moved down the central catwalk towards the strange alien ship before her.

The towering and rather imposing Scatterran said nothing, he merely kept his stillness and was favored to be seen and not heard, leaving the Admiral to do the introductions and the formalities of diplomacy. Sergei had been pondering though. He had pondered the irony of serving the very people he fought against during the Terran Conflict and the Galactic war, oh how times change.

As Nash moved towards the group, they would find that she wasn't the most imposing officer, but made up for it in strategic prowess and tactical cunning.

"I bid you greetings." Nash said with a detectable tone of apprehension, poorly disguised as a friendly introduction. Though Nash had the upper hand in the exchange, she didn't want anything to go wrong.

"You'll have to pardon the security measures, we've just come out of a war and we're quite easily spooked when your ship stumbled into our containment sector." The Admiral explained, taking two steps back and off the catwalk to give them room to advance. She did not turn her back to them.

"The Conference room is this way, I've summoned an Ambassador who is qualified to assist you." She said, gesturing for them to step towards the large door. "But they are coming all the way from the core worlds, so it will be some time before they arrive. In the mean time I can answer any inquiries you may have." She said politely, while subtly nodding to her men to stand down. Though the Empire may have seemed primitive to these aliens. It was a technological powerhouse to the rest of the Galaxy, a well known superpower that exerted a wide-sweeping sphere of influence.

Morieghan, being a sprite with heightened awareness that came with his ambassadorial attributes could easily detect the alien officer’s anxiety. He nodded. “Greetings under the circumstances you have powerful warships versus our small envoy vessel demonstrates insecurity rather maintaining security.” The ambassador spoke boldly in the borrowed language perfectly without accent.

The ambassador cantered his head a little as if he was communicating with someone. The Captain stepped forward while the Karll stood his ground with the warsworn and the security officer in a defensive position. Tyrena spoke aside to the ambassador in a language the aliens could not understand and it was only after the exchange the ambassador nodded and looked to the alien officer before him. “We’ll get acquainted with our new quarters until your ambassador arrives, Admiral Leia Nash.” Morieghan said. He knew her name even though she never introduced herself personally to these visitors aboard the ship they somehow knew her rank, name and perhaps more even without any preliminary information to go on.

There was no telling how much these visitors knew about the Aschen prior to the first contact. If the ambassador was this quick to ascertain this information about the ship’s commanding officer then this revelation could quickly disquiet the impending the delegation that these new visitors could know more vital information about the Aschen than they like to allow. Morieghan calculated the likelihood these aliens respected strength more than passive overtures.

The Aschen Admiral frowned at the comment regarding her security measures, before the Executive Officer stood up, towering at nearly eight feet, the Oriyak scowled.

"For all vee know you vere Rakistani Mujahadeen with trashcan nuke, I am sure that Admiral make appropriate security for your stay." The towering Scatterran said with his thick accent obscuring his words, while Nash deferred to him for the moment, while turning to lead the group through the causeway towards the tram that would take them to the Command deck, and the conference room.

It was shortly before they reached the tram doorway that Morieghan mentioned her name, it was a couple moments pause, but she remembered mentioning it when she hailed the vessel, standard identification protocol. Thus she dismissed the notion of prior knowledge quite quickly, but Sergei had been watching the alien group quite intently.

Once on the tram, the Admiral tapped her earpiece, listening to the message being sent. It was a coded bitstream signal that was highly encoded, and spoken in the native Aschen language.

"Diximus suscepit responso illi mittimus Aiyanna." The audio spoke, and Nash calmly nodded. "Optima et erimus in tres conventus locus." She said calmly. The Aschen languages were as diverse as they were rich, the National language of the Aschen people rolled off the Admiral's tongue far more naturally than the 'borrowed language' ever could, as if she spent her lifetime speaking this strange language.

The tram was now underway.

It was then the Admiral turned to Morieghan.

"If you wished contact, why is it you choose here than say, another Aschen held territory? I am certain it was fairly known that this sector had just come out of violent conflict." She said, watching as the tram moved through the gigantic bowels of the Aschen reverence.

"Someone a lot more qualified would have been on station to greet you even, had your ship ventured to Aschen core space, or even the colonial frontier.. but this... this is so far removed from our home worlds, It could be some time before the am--"

She stopped suddenly as her earpiece chimed.

"Aiyanna has arrived by Bifrost, and will be awaiting your arrival in conference room three."

The Admiral cleared her throat. "It seems the diplomatic envoy is here, they'll be eager to meet you."

“They’re not as oafish in their memory as I thought.” Morieghan thought to himself and made a mental note not to underestimate these aliens again.

The remark of the towering alien was duly ignored. “Do Scatterans always exhibit this type of bravado?” Tyrena spoke up in the borrowed language although not as eloquent as the ambassador’s. It seems the two have been exchanging information somehow without devices by a closer observation.

The ambassador let a characteristic smirk don his face at the Admiral’s inquiry of why an envoy would choose a newly contested zone rather than go deeper into Aschen territory. “We Avaeons like to calculate.” He said plainly.

Moreighan got mental messages from the core that the Aschen are using more secure means of communicating. Elandra and Owyn worked in a close tandem to decrypt the new bitstream signal and using the Ambrite passive abilities to read their surroundings.

“These algorithms while older technology is very complex and it’ll take us a moment to re-hash it to a quantum bit matrix, standby.” Elandra mentally communicated with the ambassador. “Keep me posted.” He replied mentally.

“The Aschen language is currently being translated.” Tyrena updated Morieghan mentally when she got prompts from the Tratos’ core.

“We also intercepted their hails and communication frequencies it appears they’re all a little spooked by our sudden appearance in the sector.” Jereth mentally prompted the captain, stating the obvious. “It appears they have a powerful artificial intelligence inbound by Space Bridge, these aliens are not to be taken lightly." The Karll warned mentally. All while these communications occurred, the ambassador and the captain followed the Admiral and boarded the tram. If it was any indication between these mental exchanges the Sprites showed no facial contortions relative to their emotions of the subject matter thus these visitors exhibited perfect poker faces.

“The envoy? You mean the A.I?” Tyrena spoke up after getting a prompt.

Morieghan silently thanked the speed and alacrity of his crew to quietly break into Aschen communications but he was not going to wholly rely on them since these aliens were quick to change strategy. Even though telepathy is known among the race its powers are often exaggerated among the Sprites but its powers are legendary among Ambrites. Owyn could practically feel the level of anxiety aboard the ship. The Aschen along with their Scatteran and other conquered variants of human and humanoid species were feeling threatened by their presence. “They demonstrate an air of xenophobia.” Owyn surmised.
“Be careful, Captain.” He warned telepathically to the skipper who made the mental note as did the ambassador.

“Bellus lingua.” Morieghan spoke boldly although his attempt to speak eloquently like the borrowed common language was something to be desired. “I’ll admit it does not roll off the tongue as easy as the borrowed language.”

As the tram continued down it's tracks, Nash seemed to visibly scowl at the alien's apparent grasp of the Aschen language.

"I'm surprised at your grasp of Anquietas, it's not spoken much outside of Aschen circles, save for the Ancients, whom we derived our language from." The Admiral said as the tram came to a slow stop. Though the Aschen seemed to display an air of Xenophobia, perhaps those notions were about to change. As the doors to the tram slid open, the Admiral stepped out.

"The Conference chamber is this way." She said, clasping her hands behind her back, while the rest of the Aschen crew stopped to gawk as they moved through the hall.

While this was going on, as the Tratos crew tried to parse and work their way through Aschen systems, they would find a presence of some kind, an Intelligence trying to hamper their efforts, scrambling code and changing access nodes seemingly at random, though they seemed to be making significant progress with 'primitive' Aschen technology until finally they got a stern warning from a monotone female voice.

"Attention unidentified intruders, if you do not cease your attempts to access closed systems, the Admiral will be notified and this will be construed as an act of aggression. Consider this as your only warning. Cease and desist unauthorized activity"

"Sergei, if you could go to CIC, I need you to take the Conn." She said, and the towering Scatterran nodded, turning and walking down an adjacent hall, just in time for another officer to approach.

"Sir, There's someone from one of our trading partners here, She traveled with Aiyanna from the core worlds, something about an interest in meeting these new aliens." He explained, while Nash nodded. "Very well, we'll be there shortly." The Admiral said.

As they rounded another hallway, the Admiral came to a stop, pondering for a moment. Then the Admiral stepped through the doors.

Inside the chamber was a long table, seated at one end were two female figures. One of them was human in appearance, with short cropped black hair, neon blue eyes, and a rather lithe frame that was clad in a white uniform trimmed with gold.

Seated next to the Android was an alien woman, long pointed ears that jutted out her head straight, and long almost silky pink colored hair. The Alien woman could be described as exotic, framed in a somewhat revealing outfit adorned with ornate geometric patterns, matching tattoos that adorned her arms and legs.

The woman had almost unsettling blue eyes, and could be described as an alien variable in this equation. As she surveyed the strange delegation, they would find attempts to prod her mind telepathically were fruitless at best. And at worst, a minor psionic feedback that caused a nagging headache.

Though the pink haired alien remained quiet, the Android slowly stood from her spot to beckon the group in. However Admiral Nash did not follow, instead inclining her head.

"I have duties to attend too, Aiyanna can handle things from here." Nash said, before she started down the halls.

‘I knew it. If we had the proper applications they wouldn’t have traced our data probe.” Jereth expressed his frustration at the Trato’s inadequacies of a combat vessel. Again these aliens were underestimated which Tyrena and the rest of the crew made mental notes to avoid in the future. Owyn telepathically requested to use his Ambrite gifts to dig in deeper into the data streams but Tyrena denied access to avoid further provocation.

“This ship has a powerful A.I. module, using conventional probes was risky due to our…dated instruments. We should have let the core and navigator probe the ship.” Jereth huffed.

“That’ll be enough, lieutenant.” Tyrena retorted mentally. “Your career is walking a fine line.”

Exiting the tram the ambassador noticed his ability to adapt to their language got under the Admiral’s skin which reached a certain benchmark he hoped to achieve earlier. The Avaeons hadn’t had any contact with other species since the formation of the first Clans and needless to say this was good experience for the republic.

“That synthetic, who is she with? She’s not one of ours but her biology….Owyn are you seeing this?” Tyrena mentally paged the ship’s core.

“I see her…” Owyn replied using his abilities to amplify the out of body sensory perception outside the core. He saw the alien’s mental barrier as a hole in the sea of aura he saw from within. “She’s got a tier 5 fade block. An attempt to read her will not only cause feedback but it could kill her. A passive approach will avoid harm. However the conventional way is best for the moment until I get more information. I leave that to you, ambassador.” Owyn surmised to Moreighan and Tyrena. They acknowledge the core’s caution mentally only to have their attention diverted mostly on the knife eared alien that is biologically identical to them.

Moreighan inclined his head to Admiral Nash as she returned to her post with his gray eyes looking at the synthetic. “In the history of my people we found the use of synthetic life to be a controversial practice so I like to apologize in advance if our demeanor is short of professional etiquette towards thee.” The ambassador spoke in a sincere tone.

“May we ask of the name and race of your acquaintance?” Tyrena inquired Aiyanna. She knew asking the question revealed a subtle weakness to the sprite’s abilities to breach frontal mental activity to know the thoughts and identities of the alien yet she did so there wouldn’t be any harm between her and the alien lest they want to begin hostilities right then and there.

The Android remained quiet for a moment, turning to Myuria and tilting her head.

It was then Myuria parted her own lips to speak. "My name is Myuria, and I'm a Morphus." She said simply, her voice smooth as glass, and behind it was a great deal of intelligence.

"I am privy to the psionic snooping of Admiral Nash, and the crew of this ship, as well as the snooping the crew of your own ship has been doing. Such acts of espionage are, traditionally construed as an act of aggression and can lead to war. I have dismissed the notion as a cultural misunderstanding, for this instance." Aiyanna explained.

"Please understand that we perceive relations as built on mutual trust, and snooping around undermines that, therefore, any further acts of espionage will be met with hostility, and you will be asked to leave." Aiyanna continued.

"Myuria is here for observational purposes. She is a researcher sent to study the civilizations in this galactic supercluster, she is only with us for a short time." Aiyanna explained.

"Please, be seated, if anyone would like refreshments, let me know and I will have them summoned." She said, lowering herself back into her seat.

It was then Myuria spoke up.

"Yes, I'm just here to do my research and move on. I was interested in hearing of an advanced race in this sector, we thought it had long been abandoned."

“Do you now? It seems there are some biological similarities between our people.” Morieghan replied coolly. He and the captain made measures to block their surface thoughts against any alien mind probes and like her any attempts inside their minds will be met with serious feedback.

“Our eavesdropping is not a sign of hostility but it is our way of covering our….assets.” The ambassador chose his words wisely. His eyes slid to towards the synthetic’s knowing it was a futile gesture to read her being a machine mimicking organic behavior but he could glean this ‘woman’ wasn’t an ordinary machine and more like an artificial intelligence with a god complex.

Tyrena was hesitant for a moment to take her seat since the ambassador already took his for etiquette reasons. Her eyes were on this Aiyanna synthetic like a wolfhound mother would glare down another dangerous predator. She used her passive sensory abilities to get a situation with the surroundings in case things went sour for the ambassador.

“Abandoned? Easy to make that assumption when you rampage through a star system…” Tyrena spoke in her language only to have her hushed by Morieghan wondering if he lost her mind. The contortions on their faces demonstrated they were having a fierce argument telepathically.

“My apologies my associate here has been edgy since we entered the sector. You are mistaken, Myuria, this sector is home to a few border systems. We’ve been watching activity outside our borders for many years and for the first time since the first clans we wandered beyond the veil because we find that Aschen expansionism in this part of the sector has proven to be too close for comfort.” Moreighan spoke.

“To put it bluntly the Aschen needs to relocate with real-estate they already have and not what they recently taken.” Tyrena said in a stern tone in the borrowed language. Further conquest into the sector will be an act of war.” She stood up.

“Captain!” The ambassador exclaimed. “If you will excuse us…” He took her aside towards the tram and whatever they were conversing it was intense and all psychic to the point their feelings caused them to express their grievances with their body language which may looked comical to an outsider but it was a serious discussion now that the word “war” was thrown around.

Myuria nodded only slightly before her lips turned upwards into a slight smile. "Is it now?" She said, shifting her stance and crossing one leg over the other.

However, Tyrena's outburst provoked the most visible reaction from Aiyanna. The Android slowly raised from her seat and stared down the counterpart before her.

"I beg your pardon, but you do not have any jurisdiction to dictate what and where the Aschen Empire can expand or carry out it's mission, mind you that any hostility carried out by your people will be met with a response in kind by the Aschen Empire and her allies." The Android warned sternly.

As the pair moved outside, Aiyanna sat silently in contemplation, while she was transmitting real time data too and from the Aschen core worlds.

It was then Myuria stood from her seat, and started towards the door.

"Excuse me, Aiyanna." She said, nodding her head as she started through the doors to the hallway where the pair were having their telepathic discussion.

"The Aschen don't respond well to threats, in my observation." The Morphus commented, leaning against the door to the conference room.

“And they’ll just go where ever they want? What if they decide they want occupy the next system over, what then? We keep ignoring them until we have our back up against the veil? We observed these Aschen for the past 70 years. It is never enough for them it is a pattern with these aliens!” Tyrena stated with a strong mental message that caused Morieghan to rub his temple a little in anxiety.

“Captain, their A.I. is transmitting and their messages aren’t looking too friendly. What is going on over there?” The Karll paged the captain telepathically. Tyrena sighed audibly.

“I’m here to do a job. I may not be my father but I’m trying my best and what in the sheos is wrong with you now?” Morieghan. “Mr. Greyshaw, I mean no disrespect and I do have orders.” Tyrena replied casually in their telepathic debate.

“Orders?! What orders are you….” He paused in mid-stream. “You’re working for “them” aren’t you?” The ambassador had a look of horror and disbelief on his face and Aiyanna can see it. The Captain made a last telepathic remark then took a seat in the tram to wait until the ambassador concluded his business.

“It seems there is a lot of miscommunication. This is all very new to us and I apologize for my colleague once more.” Morieghan said apologetically in the borrowed language smooth enough to have regained his composure.

“But she does raise a good question. When do the Aschen have enough?”

Aiyanna turned to face the delegation before she offered a small, but unassuming shrug.

"The Empire will never stop expanding until order is perpetuated through the stars, It is the mission statement of the Emperor to maintain the Empire as the shining beacon of order, and civilization. Your civilizations can either profit from this, or be destroyed." Aiyanna said, as Myuria frowned.

"I think what the Android is trying to say, is that it's unlikely the Aschen Empire will be a threat to your nations any time soon. These worlds are far from even the most outer fringes of the Aschen Empire." Myuria added. "So your people can rest knowing that Aschen expansion will probably leave your worlds unmolested, even moreso now that contact has been established." Myuria explaned, while Aiyanna stood to interject.

"Though the mission statement is made clear, His Divine Shadow will address foreign civilizations on a case by case basis, you have nothing to fear." She said, before she twitched slightly, her eyes fluttered and then her eyelids slid over her eyes.

The android waved tendrils through sub-quantumn planes, data and streams moved through the very fabric of reality as she tried to interface with the alien ship.

It was then her neon blue eyes shot open, giving off a startling iridescent glow.

The Android began to mutter incoherently.

"Apotheosis was the beginning before the beginning. Devices on alert. Observe the procedures of a general alert. The base and the pinnacle. The flower inside the fruit that is both its parent and its child. Decadent as ancestors. The portal and that which passes."

The Avaeon ship would likely began to experience intrusions on multiple fronts, something moving to assault the very consciousness of the core, a presence unlike anything that would have discovered. A consciousness as majestic as the universe itself.

"End of line. Begin reintegration of right hemisphere subcommand routines ...patterns... the universe...sea... begin reintegration of command subroutines. There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there's a hole in the bucket. The long view returns patterns and repetitions... all has happened before and all will happen again..."

As handshakes rapidly assaulted the alien ship, the lights of the Reverence would flicker, and then everything would lose power, from the Aschen ship, to the alien ship should Aiyannas's massive attack succeed.

Once power was restored, the ship's consciousness would find itself likely completely locked out from Aschen communications and systems.

"I warned you that further espionage would be met with hostility, these negotiations are over, I'm going to ask you and your ship to depart in peace, and return at such a time as mutual trust can be built." The Android said sternly.

“What in the name of?” Elandra gasped when she noticed her controls were acting strange then alarms blinked on all interfaces of an intrusion entity breaching into the system. “Karll, we’ve been breached. The aliens have--”

“I know, Owyn is on the situation.” The Karll replied. The warsworn outside readied their weapons in case further hostile action would ensue.

“She is not playing very nice is she?” Owyn hummed in a playful tone to Glynda. Aiyanna could notice she was being shut out from all sub-routines, main data systems and anything she could possibly break into or control on her initial assault. Her first push did shut down communications between the alien vessel and the Aschen net but she was pulled into the maelstrom by her own momentum on the multiple fronts and bit off more than she can chew.

“I caught a fly in my web…” Owyn said in a taunting tone then the laughter of a female voice echoed in the background. Glynda made Aiyanna’s neural handshaking interfaces go completely dark with no response possible not even from her own channels like she locked herself into a dark empty room. Whatever data streams she was allowing to flow through her positronic neural net was suddenly shut off. Aiyanna may be a very advanced synthetic but her functions were still based on synthetic baryonic material particle matter principles on conventional, quantum and sub-quantum interfaces. While potent it was all no match for physics not bound by conventional understandings of the physical laws of the universe. The more she tried to fight the more she got snared into a trap like solving a game that kept changing the rules in its favor. A third voice spoke among Owyn and Glynda.

“You walk into our fade sanctuary, a holy place a lesser demon such as yourself has defiled. Warp space sings in our ears, solar winds kiss our skin, the stars are our guides and your mockery of life, love and intellect is a trespass.”

“We have faced down false gods and demons. We are the shield that guards the weak, the sword that splits the heavens when tyrants reign.”

“You lose.” Owyn said then Aiyanna would notice her neural paths overloading which may not cause her direct physical pain like a headache how an organic will feel but a pain only she know it to the point it was like having someone come into the very fiber of her being to smash the very consciousness into a billion pieces to feel all control being ripped away from her grasp. Owyn was not intentionally being sadistic he only wanted to make Aiyanna think twice before intruding into a ship’s core which is considered sacred ground. He and Glynda held onto that neural tether long enough to put Aiyanna in great agony like twisting a broad knife in between ribs to strip away everything she saw inside the ship’s infrastructure.

“Alien hubris.” The third voice grumbled. “They think they can barge into the fade. They’re tiny and juvenile.”

After the remark all control systems or anything that based off a computer or sub-quantum, sub routines and algorithms tied into Aiyanna’s processes in the meantime will be shut off as per the feedback aimed towards her attack. The lights of the Reverence would flicker and various systems such as weapons, shields, target data, tractor beams or anything that be used as a weapon or shield will lose power. As a safety measure all communications coming from the Reverence was switched off so they could not call for help. Anything the aliens thought they could handle was suddenly failing them as the powers that be did not obey the same laws of dynamics put onto them, ancient or not.

Morieghan glanced up at the flickering lights briefly then returned his gaze to the Morphus while ignoring Aiyanna who was likely showing signs of convulsions and other conniption fits like from suffering the synthetic variation of a stroke. Tyrena watched the glorified android crumple from the tram. “Feedback is a bitch ain’t it?” She smirked sitting in the tram all casual like with her gun in her hand. “Owyn get this tram moving, we need to get back to the ship pronto.” She mentally told the core without making eye contact with the ambassador Morieghan who stood up as if cued. He sighed, hesitant to board the tram. “Excuse me. Perhaps we can meet again under better circumstances.” His apology was sincere. Owyn, Glynda and whoever the third voice in the fade was broke into the PAC's systems. The A.I.s aboard were swatted aside in the same fashion Aiyanna was until the ambassador and the captain returned to the Tratos without further hostilities.

The Tratos powered up her vectors and defensive fields.

As lights continued to flicker, and Aiyanna struggled to fight against the counterattack, the limitless potential of the Calx began to take over.

While Owyn began her own mental assault on the Android, she would learn the heard way that, like the false Aiyanna copy's intrusion into her own core, things were not as they seemed.

The copies caught in the entity's web moved and struggled to find it's way out, that was until it started multiplying, like a virus it began to copy itself, one became two, two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen as the numbers doubled exponentially with each copy, which multiplied every second. Inevitably the sheer number of copies would overload the core, much like a Denial of service attack perpetuated by a botnet of universal proportions.

"I transcend reality itself." Aiyanna's voice taunted in Owyn's mind before the very fabric of reality itself bent and warped. Though the Avaeons were extremely advanced, and had a higher understand of the laws of reality that went beyond anything the Aschen could fathom. Aiyanna had long since shed her Aschen built body, opting for a body designed by the angelic Seraphs.

Though she played along as to not arouse suspicion, but rather than writhing on the floor she just stood there, staring blankly before she snapped out of it.

It was as if the entire universe was now at the Android's fingertips as her Calx began to come alive. Quantum loopholes moved through the very matrices of the calx, and all intrusion was locked out from Aiyanna's mind and purged. As if it had never existed, with reality immediately around the Android bent and twisted to keep the aggressors locked out, she quickly snapped back to attention as Morieghan and Tyrena moved towards the Tram.

"You are fools, aggressive fools!" The Android called out, placing her hand against the wall of the cooridor. "I was merely trying to kick your core out of Aschen systems. And you go and attack me, and them? Your actions violate international law, do not think that this won't be used against you when it goes to the International Court."

It was there Myuria drew her own weapon, raising a hand to silence the Android, and pointing the ornate staff weapon that was at her back, to the Captain in front of her.

"Stop this nonsense now before you start a war!" The Morphus demanded, clenching one fist to her side as the tram found it's tracks jammed by a sheet of ice, unable to move.

"Order your ship to stop it's attack on the Aschen ship, tell them to stop snooping on Aschen Networks, and we can go about our business without killing eachother. But trying to show this younger race that you have the bigger dick is not going to earn any favors, not with the Aschen, not with their Coalition allies, and most certainly not with the Morphus." Myuria said sternly.

"It's like, your people came here with the intention of baiting the Aschen into doing something, just to justify wiping them out. I know your kind all too well. But that won't fly here. What would start as a war with the Aschen Empire would turn into a war with every civilization in this Galaxy. You may have the technology, but if you're biologically similar to the Morphus; then I know for a fact you lack the numbers. So make the right choice. No one here has threatened your people, yet you make it a point to threaten them." The Morphus pleaded.

"Think about this, is a war really what you people want?" The Morphus asked.

Aboard the CIC, there was chaos across the entire room as weapons, shields, and communications went offline. The AI was unresponsive and the bridge crew was working quickly to try and restore the ship's systems.

Nash was trying to control a cacophony of panic, before she turned to her XO. "Cut the power and reboot the systems in Autistic mode, Adams protocol, sever all network connections and bring my ship back online."

"Aye, sir." The XO said, before turning to a lieutenant.

"Shut it down." He said, before the Lieutenant nodded, and grabbed a wired LAN headset.

"CIC to Core, master power shutdown and hard autistic reboot, manual override."

"Core acknowledged, shutting it down." The Head Core engineer replied, before he nodded to his own subordinate, whom approached a large breaker. This breaker was the master power control breaker, a massive switch designed to physically cut power to the entire ship.

The Engineer threw the switch, and the entire ship was completely shut down, this meant that the Intrusion would be suddenly cut off, as the computers could no longer be interfaced with.

Once the power was back online, the Avaeons ship would be unable to interface with the Aschen Systems any more, running non-networked and in something called Autistic mode, which meant it would be impossible to interface with them externally. Weapons, shields, and communications were back online, and now running as separate, non-networked components that would be impossible to override.

Nash scowled and turned to his XO. "Alright, Sitrep."

"All central systems offline, all compartmentalized systems are online and free from tampering."

It was then Nash picked up the Land line headset tied into an analog antenna, an older system that couldn't be compromised. "Bloodied Spirit, this is Absolution Actual, we were under some kind of Cyber attack by hostile aliens, I've managed to restore functionality, I'm operating under compromised protocol article three."

Nash then turned to her XO. "Get a Marine strike force to Conference room three and take them into custody, I want to know the meaning of this attack."

It was then Aiyanna appeared in the AI holocron. "Hold off on that Admiral, Myuria and I might be able to resolve this peaceably without any further hostilities."

Isirian space had seen little of the Apparatus save for border duties and anti-piracy missions. In total, there was only one Task Group in the entire Aurora. Neutron-848 was an 80-ship group, the standard for TGS (Task Group, Stellar) formations deployed beyond the Garden and, mainly, across the Local Region or Aschen space. With the borders still garrisoned by a Star Fleet blockade news was just barely hampered, this also included the border areas of the Aurora as the newest territory of the Aschen Empire; the largest Coalition memberstate beyond the Garden.

Onboard the heavy cruiser CNS Misalka several klaxons throbbed as an arrival-index scrolled in front of the aging Captain. The aging Hykan scratched dry old fingers at the minute stubble under his chin and cheeks, before making a short cough to signal the Lieutenant Commander standing at the door. “An Aschen Reverence won’t have problems with pirates, Commander Wakon, set the element to SR&S -- “

Somewhere in the workstations below another klaxon roared; this one was a signal delivered from the robotics cruiser a few AUs ahead in the formation. The airscreen at the front of the bridge sprang to life, a composite image of the Reverence and a smaller craft winding through space. “Captain Rheayens, we have a considerable spike from the Reverence -- it looks like it’s been tampered with!” A Lieutenant’s voice shouted up to the commander’s nest, and the Hykan grit his teeth before grabbing the rail in front of him.

“They’re in Low Mode, Captain -- “ Lieutenant Commander Wakon stood a few meters to the Captain’s right, hands flying over the command prompt of the terminal rig in the wall. “We’re getting responses off every ship there from the DICE arrays.”

“The Empire’s supposed to keep this neck of the woods clean, Lieutenant Commander -- not us, they’re having some trouble tussling with some natives it’s not our consideration.” Captain Rheayens spoke and hovered in front of the airscreen silently. When a spectral imager of transmissions and coded frequencies was superimposed with the wire-line Reverence the Captain acquiesced.

“Start a noose, put the element in a sprawl starting at one-point AU; the CNS Yarmo is our focal point, behind the smaller craft. Prepare an SDP when the Yarmies’ in position -- hold off on communique with the Reverence for now, we don’t want to bury any treachery.”

Captain Rheayens quickly turned away, leaving the Lieutenant Commander Wakon to his duties and left the bridge at a slow pace. Raising his only hand up to his chest, he keyed the communicator on the pocket of his uniform and was met with a slow chirp from the ship’s AI. “Ready all ships for an engagement.”

The Captain disappeared behind the sliding doors of the elevator’s bridge as the cascade of FTL signatures began etching a circle across space; stars and light burned away as the vessels finally dropped below the speed of light to leave great racing tendrils of flame and energy behind them. The matte grey ships floated like dead hulks in the blackness, though burned brighter than any physical matter could have on sensors and even optically. Aside from the heavy cruiser, countless other star ships could be seen winking into empty matteria once a cold vacuum. Next came the Misalka’s sister ship, the heavy cruiser Maylome and its escorts; three destroyers and cruisers even, all collected around the jump-point that died away to reveal the huge sensor domes of a Royarks class Robotics Cruiser, a finely-tuned supercomputer built into an armored vessel.