UTC Space-Galon System-Zider-Coed Cartref-First Tree:

Vont Rockonna sighed as he manipulated a holo-pad, shifting through screen after screen of data files. Vont both loved and hated his job, he enjoys that his job has him work with Lantor a Tigrock he highly reveres. Unfortunately the work he gets to do for him is all secretarial in nature. Vont had been working Lantor Rinthor for the last couple of years, ever since the incident on Graig. The incident occurred back when Vont was a raw recruit in the UTC stationed on Graig.

The whole thing started when a missile detonated at the mine close to the storage facility his unit was stationed at. After the explosion his unit had gone to investigate leaving Vont to watch over the facility. Once they were clear of the facility a Powlen troop transport landed dispensing fifty rebel clanless soldiers. The rebels assaulted the facility to steal the recourses stored there. His unit returned several hours later to find a downed Powlen transport and fifty bodies stacked next to it with Vont guarding the facility as ordered acting seemingly like nothing had happened. When asked what had happened by his platoon leader Vont answered saying that he'd been forced to shoot down the transport when the remaining enemy had tried to escape.

After that Vont was given a bunch of medals, promoted to Staff Sergeant and could pretty well choose where he'd be stationed next. A large part of Vont wish he'd done just that but when he was offered his current position he was heavily pressured by his clan leader. Besides that Vont didn't think he could refuse an offer made by a Lantor.

Vont was pulled from his memories by a loud buzzing and the glow of a red light on his desk. He quickly acknowledged the alarm turning it off. He hurried finishing putting together the report. Finished he brought both sides of the holo-pad together until it clicked into place. With the closed holo-pad in hand Vont made his way out of his office the doors sliding open as he entered the code. Vont quickly started to move across the large room outside his office. It was filled with computers and Tigrock working on them. They were using gathered Intel to make into data files like what Vont had just worked with.

Metal doors at the base of road sized branch opened up and Vont came out picking up his pace to a sprint. Running along the branch, as it curved upward along the trunk of the tree, he passed several auto cannons. The branch quickly lead into a much larger one that lead to the trunk of the tree near the top of the tree. Where the branch met the tree a large doorway was installed into the tree with large auto cannons placed on either side along with an infantry squad guarding the entrance. After confirming his qualifications he moved past the door and walked down a dimly lit hallway. There were a few other Tigrock in the hallway moving towards the end where there was one massive door and several other small ones. Vont took one of the side passages but many of the others went through the massive door.

Once through the change in light was blinding but their eyes quickly adjusted and they were soon able to take in the huge room before them. The room was basically a circular auditorium. On each level there were Tigrock working at computer stations and arguing with other Tigrock. There were many rows with there being a couple hundred Tigrock minor clans. The major clans had booths built into the side of the walls. On the ceiling was the bottom of what seemed to be a metal platform.

Vont had gone through a different door and made his way to the end of a dark passageway, only his night vision allowed him to see. At the end of the hallway were two more guards though these ones wore a black patch on the shoulder of their armor with two combat hammers crossed. The guards would be able to get a face match with their helmets plus he was expected so Vont just passed by them. He was already late he didn't really need procedures making things worse. Passing through the last set of doors he entered Lantor Rinthor's council chamber.

The first thing Vont noticed in the room was the two medical attendants that were responsible for Lantor Rinthor's health. Past them he saw that Rinthor was in his modified throne facing the other way. The throne had been modified from the original so Rinthor's various medical equipment could be installed. Rinthor was turned talking to Rontor Shade-Tree the head of the Pride guard and most trusted body guard of Rinthor.

Vont stepped forward and then lowered himself in a sign of submitting to his superior. "Sir, I've brought the report you requested...I'm sorry I'm late." stated Vont in a steady tone. Vont heard a long exasperated sigh come from the other side of the chair.

"I don't want your apologies Vont, all I ask is that you learn from your mistakes." responded Rinthor in a strained gravelly voice as he slowly turned his throne to face the young Tigrock. Vont looked back at him still a little unnerved by all the tubes that were going into the old Tigrock to keeping his organs going.

"Yes sir," responded Vont as he held the closed holo-pad up for Rinthor who snatched it from his hand and turned to the central console in the room. He plugged the holo-pad in and from the central console an interactive hologram appeared. Rinthor flipped through the data quickly studying each page before moving on. Rinthor then pressed a button on the console and the hologram vanished.

"At least there is some good news." Rinthor stated aloud. He turned looking toward Vont. "Work on the outer colonies is going ahead of schedule, and construction of the Cymorth in Darian is nearly complete and soon it we be able make the jump through the Porth Mawr." continued Rinthor. He then manipulated the controls on his throne moving it into its central position in the room. Once in place he pressed another button on his throne and the sound of machinery could be heard as the entire room started to lower. "Looks like it's time to work before they any more restless than they already are." Rinthor said to himself. The platform continued to lower until it rested in the center of the council chamber below.

UTC Space-Darian System-Kraic Cruiser The Iron Axe:

Captain Danel Kraic sat in the command chair on the bridge of The Iron Axe staring at a screen projected in front of him. On it he could see various reports all in all telling him that everything was fine. The Captain frowned, with nothing going on he had no reason to change his orders, they would just stay on their current route patrolling through the Darian system. "Intelligence Officer Ranar, bring up a view of Canolog station to my station." ordered the Captain.

Moments later he was staring at a holo screen of the massive space station. His eyes scanned the screen searching for the Ship Yard section of the station. Spotting it he saw operations were still continuing at a rapid pace. This meant the Cymorth under construction there still wasn't finished. There were still a few days until they passed close enough to Darian's asteroid field and could see the Porth Mawr. If they were lucky they just might get a view of the gate activating for the first time.

UTC Space-Dwr System-Maes-10th Armored Division:

Corporal Vitner Huntlin lay back relaxed on the extended section of a Crafangau light armored vehicle call sign Warden. Vitner and his unit were suppose to be on a training exercise but with a day as nice as this he couldn't help but just goof off a little. The officer in charge of the Crafangau Sergeant Caden Wrain sat next to him. "Couldn't you at least try and look like your alert." he chided. The Sergeant and Vitner had been friends for years going back to when they went through basic together.

"But if I did that an enemy might actually shoot me confusing me for a threat, and I don't think I could take disappointing someone like that." responded Vitner grinning. As he laid down he watched a blue deer like creature one of the planets natural fauna graze on the grass. It wasn't often that Corporal Huntlin could say he was truly at peace but right no---an explosion drove the thought from his head as the deer he was watching exploded. "What the hell was that." Vitner groaned clasping his head, normally his helmet would of blocked out the worst of the sound but Vitner's helmet was lying next to him.

"Woo, did you guys see that I blew the shit out of that antelope!" cried A young Private Waylin Danar as he climbed out from the cockpit.

"Yeah nice shot private, now you can go and collect every piece of it so we can eat it properly." ordered the Sergeant a clear tone of annoyance in his voice.

Year 2674 A.D.S Location New Glactius System (Orion Empires name for system)

Admiral Gritz blinked as lights flashed aboard the ship indicating ships detected "What does this mean!? There is something already here!? Dammit we should of investigated more before hand!" One of Orus at console looked to the admiral "Sir we have lock should we fire?" Gritz slammed his fist into a screen breaking it "Fire dammit fire!" With that order three bombs were launched out of the capital ship. Heading right for the unknown craft and exploded in brilliant light only around .5 km from the unknown craft. Each capable of causing a fireball of 1.2km if they were blown in atmosphere. As the bombs went off fighters were being scrambled out of the capital ship to get the unknown craft. Admiral Gritz looked to communication officer "Send word for frigates guarding gate to send one home to signal for reinforcements. Genocide of all possible threats is our only option!" The comm officer quickly sent message towards frigates and one of ten at gate was quick to use it to get back to warn the rest of Orion Empire.

Warning lights once again began sounding across the ships. "Maim, second ship coming around from the other side of the planet, Maim It's firing." Vera and the command crew of the Illexia could only watch in horror as three blips appeared on their screens and then as they exploded against the ship that they had been trying to contact. There were three tremendous burst of light as around the ship and as the lights dissapeared the ship was very much battered and falling into the planet.

Vera was stunned, "Maim, the ship is launching fighters, what are your orders." Vera slammed her fist down on her chair "Captain, lock on the main cannon, were bringing that ship down." Vera opened up a com link to the entirety of the FEF "All ships, unknown ship is hostile, Scramble intercept craft and open fire."

The ships of the FEF scrambled to follow their orders. The Heavy guns of the Illexia and the two Calmin Battleships were the first to bring fire to the enemy ships but it wasn't long before the ships of the FEF began throwing up a hellstorm. "Maim, main cannon is charged." Vera smiled, the Fraelin Republic did not condone violence but there was a reason why people like Vera made their way to the top of the military. "Very good Commander, You may fire"

The commander nodded to two pilots stationed at a control panel who began typing into the panel. Vera had pulled up the controls of the gun herself and could see each light on the screen turn green as the Sky Piercer was electrically charged. Finally the last line turned green and the ship actually was moved backwards slightly by the great gun's recoil. Vera was made for war, even if her people were not. This is where she excelled. That ship was already suffering heavy damage from the rain of fire from the FEF, the sky piercer's shell would rip right through the ship. A shame really but necessary in this case.

UTC Space-Galon System-Zider-Coed Cartref-First Tree:

"The Huntlin Clan already has control of one mineral planet, to give them control of another would make them far too powerful! It's time to give control to a different clan, the Winland Clan!" yelled the representative of the Winland Clan.

"That is nonsense, a clan with experience managing the mining operation of an entire planet should be given control of the next mining colony." responded the representative of the Winthor Clan. He'd only just barely beaten the Huntlin Clan to the punch but as a Clan with control of the mining operations of a planet themselves they had plenty of reason to side with them. The bickering between the two sides continued like this for a while until Lantor Rinthor couldn't stand anymore.

"SILINCE!!!" he roared and his order was followed immediately. "Debating over who has control of mining colonies not yet discovered is simply asinine. We shall continue to decide such things on a case by case basis as such potential colonies are found." commanded Lantor but he heard plenty of grumbling amongst the clans below. He had done his best to evenly split the control of recourses between the clans as best he could but it seemed that the knowledge of there being more would keep the clans in conflict. Earlier Lantors had tried to have the recourses controlled by groups like the Pride Guard who held the interests of all Tigrock above individual clans. This didn't work however as once the Lantor died the clans began fighting for control of the recourses and the Pride Guard never had the numbers to keep them in check. Lantor Rinthor's thoughts were interrupted by the beeping of his assistants communicator.

"Sir, the Cymorth in Darian has been completed it has been named Grinth's Claw and is moving to carry out its mission." stated Vont.

"Who's the captain?" questioned Lantor.

Vont manipulated his holo-pad looking for the information. "He's Captain Vince Huntlin sir." Vont responded.

"Very well." finished Lantor as he looked back to the quickly increasing chatter below.

UTC Space-Darian System-Kraic Cruiser The Iron Axe:

Captain Vince Huntlin sat in the command chair on board the newly complete Grinth's Claw scouting vessel a slight grin on his face. Scouting into unknown territory was the most action a Tigrock could get in the navy. Even those lucky enough to engage rebels usually only faced a couple ill-equipped ships that never lasted long in a major engagement. The ship was quickly making its way out of Canolog's shipyard. "Navigator Linler set a course through the asteroid field to the Porth Mawr gate." he commanded.

"Yes, Captain." Linler responded as he set to work at his station. Soon enough the Grinth's Claw had made its way to the gate without incident.

"Bring the gate up on screen." ordered the captain and the massive alien instillation appeared before them. "Very good, all ahead full." he continued and the ship sped forward the gate growing larger and larger.

The Ondine ship had taken most of the impact from the missiles its flight sails and hull heavily damaged as it had begun to fall into the gravity of the planet below,” Erase the onboard computers! We cannot let anyone have the coordinates of the hive and queen.” Su-Bac-Nel had ordered as the ship began to sink,” all Ondine capable of combat to the drop hangers engineers stay here were dropping troops before we crash the ship into the rift.” The Ondine had begun their tasks as soon as the order was sent across the mental web there having been no problems with chaos on the ship due to the mind web. As the ship started to hit the atmosphere of the planet it began to burn. The Hive lord had walked into the drop decks at the bottom of the ship it having been filled with the crew of the ship in combat suits ready to be dropped from the burning ship into the air for the thousand foot fall with only their suits air jets to stop their descent,” prepare for drop maneuvers,” the floors of the ship had opened and hundreds of Ondine began to fall towards the ground as the ship crashed into the sands miles away from where they were released.

As morning approached a few of the awake Velidus were hungry. A small group of them exited the room to find the nearest Lysk. Growling stomachs could be heard for a good few feet down the hall. Captain Rasha was among the group. The rest of the crew had become curious as to why his sleep the last night had appeared so troubled. He simply warned them to stay away from Lysk carrying swords. That was all they could get out of him. This was morning and if these Lysk weren't nocturnal people would be awake and quite a few in the halls. The Velidus used their electrical and heat senses to lead them toward the nearest awake Lysk. That probably wouldn't be very far from their room.

ooc: ((This is assuming of course that you didn't have a ready supply of food in the guest room. We can retcon this if you want. I honestly didn't see anything related to where food was kept in any of your posts or the race sheet.))

Professor Alcar slumped into his office chair which let out a barely audible groan as it adjusted to his body weight. Unbidden, his thoughts drifted to the subject of his position. As a professor of theoretical physics at the central university, his job mainly consisted of teaching young minds concepts which he himself was still not completely clear on, even after a lifetime of study. It wasn't a bad job: he was given an office and a nice living unit at the university, as well as access to its research facilities. Still, it wasn't what he had planned to do.
He must have dozed off because the next thing Alcar was aware of was a knocking on his door. He got up and opened it, expecting to see one of his students come to ask him for help or some other nuisance, he was not expecting a middle aged gata clothed in the uniform of a government official. "Professor Tren Alcar?" asked the official.
"I am." replied Alcar.
The stranger held out a metal cylinder and said "This arrived at the Gravcomm for you."
Alcar tentatively took the cylinder and the stranger turned and left without another word, leaving Alcar stunned and full of questions. The Gravcomm was only for light speed communication between Anat and the Ring research facilities when you only want the intended receiver to read the message. Whatever it was, this information was important. The only person Alcar knew at the Ring stations was his old friend and colleague Dr. Mesko. He carefully pried open the cylinder and read the message it contained. A few moments later he had booked a spot on the next transit ship and began packing his bags.

The ship that would take Alcar to the ring would be making a pass in about three hundred quattuordecs, He would leave now and spend a little time at Satcity while he waited. The elevator ride to the artificial satellite was uneventful as such things should be. Once he arrived, Alcar decided to splurge and rent a luxury room with artificial gravity. It was expensive but it wasn't like he was saving his money for anything in particular. Besides, if Mesko's message was about what he thought it was, both of them would be up to their antennae in government grants. And if not, thought Alcar, at least it might calm my nerves before the long space voyage. Unfortunately the room had quite the opposite affect. Flying around the former asteroid at many times escape velocity, Alcar was constantly worried of his pod breaking free and falling into the sky, quite irrational as a kilometre of stone and steel separated him from the void.

As the transit ship reached optimal position, Alcar checked out of his room and left for the main spaceport. The spaceport was oddly empty. Usually there would be at least a few shuttles taking researchers to the ring stations but he was the only departing gata there. Even more curious were the several supply ships filled with fuel, water and food. The transit ships were mostly self contained , rarely ever requiring additional provisions, and fuel was only used up when making course adjustments due to changing mass. Obviously this ship was expected to be acquiring a lot more passengers some time in the near future. Due to the lack of other passengers and Alcar's nearsighted purchase of that dreadful room he could not make use of a public shuttle nor rent a private shuttle and was forced to ride in one of the cargo ships. The ship, being designed for economy rather than comfort, was quite a massive automated vessel and very stingy on its use of fuel, causing the most uncomfortable portion of Alcar,s journey to be excruciatingly lengthy. Finally the hulking tin can managed to match the transit ship's velocity and the two docked just long enough for it to deposit its cargo before it broke off again and the two went their separate ways.

When Alcar arrived there was a familiar face waiting for him.
“Well I'll be! If it isn't old Trenny, back at last!”
“Hello Keston, good to see they haven't completely replaced you with a robot yet.”
“Bah, they still need pilots like me to make sure the computer doesn't screw up. I should actually be in the control room watching over the acceleration right now, but when I saw your name on the passenger list I had to see for myself. The only name one the passenger list I might add. You know anything about that, Tren?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing. A few hundred quattuordecs ago I received a message from my old colleague via gravcomm, asking me to come to the ring. That's all know.”
“Gravcomm, eh? Looks like something big is going down at the ring. All they told me was that I would be receiving an abnormal number of passengers. Looks like they're evacuating the stations.”
“If they're evacuating then the Ring's probably the last place I want to be. On the other hand, if my colleague has discovered something important about the Ring, and if he wants me to be part of it...”
“You'll be one of the most famous people in history.”
“Precise-”
Their conversation was interrupted by a jolt of acceleration.
“I had better see what that was.”, said Keston, “I assume you remember the layout of these ships. As you're the only passenger here you can have your pick of the living quarters.”
After Keston had left, Alcar drifted around the ship until he found the special rooms usually reserved for government officials and settled. The previous occupant had apparently liked looking out at the stars and had left the walls transparent. Staring out into the inky black abyss, Alcar felt faint. He finally found the transparency controls and set the walls to fully opaque. There, just like his living unit back at the university, save for the lack of gravity that was.

The voyage lasted a little over a fortnight by Earth reckoning. As the Ring came into view Alcar made a section of the wall transparent again so he could see it. It looked as strange and alien as ever. A sense of forgotten knowledge washed over him. Time, he reflected, is relentless in its duty. Even such a grand civilization as to have created this was washed away in the tide of history, leaving behind only mysteries in its wake. At this distance, the two research stations were nothing more than reflective dots at opposite ends of the Ring. Keston bid him off and Alcar moved his belongings to one of the ship's numerous shuttles in preparation for his departure. He donned a pressurized suit in case the unthinkable should happen and strapped himself in to the shuttle's cockpit. From there, a computer took over, breaking away from the transit ship and beginning the braking procedure. Finally, the shuttle came up to Alpha station's docking bay and secured itself to the structure.

Alcar was barely out of the airlock when Mesko came running up to him.
“Finally you're here!”, exclaimed Mesko, “All preparations are complete, now follow me to the shuttle and we'll get started.”
“Hold on, I think I have the right to an explanation.”
“There's no time, I'll explain on the shuttle.”
“Can I at least put away my bags?”
“Did you bring anything irreplaceable?”
“Well no, but-”
“Then leave them here. Come on!”
The two entered another shuttle and Mesko initiated some preprogrammed flight path.
“Alright, now we have some time. What did you want to know?”
“I want to know what the hell is going on!”
“Fair enough. Alright, remember the last time we met, when we were talking about how the civilization that built this structure probably spanned across the galaxy and was made up of many alien species and cultures and would therefore need some unifying factor when dealing with certain aspects of their empire.”
“Yes, we decided that they must all be linked by the universe they inhabit and that all intelligent life would develop some form of mathematics to express the universe. You actually found something based on those assumptions?”
“Not just something. Perhaps the very key to activating the Ring! I looked at the symbols on the Ring as if they were numbers or mathematical expressions.”
“And what did you find?”
“Equations, universal constants, all the things you would think an advanced race would understand! There were even a few things I didn't recognize. I sent them back home to analyze. Right now, at this very moment I have robots entering what I hope to be the correct response to identify us as intelligent beings.”
“How do you know how to communicate with the ring? If it really is an interstellar transport device, as you suspect, why would it activate simply because some robots are writing numbers on it, or whatever you are doing?”
“Wouldn't you make such a key piece of technology accessible to all who would use it? But there's more than just that. I think that the ring's been watching us since we first arrived, it's just waiting for us to prove ourselves.”
“Artificial intelligence?”
“Of course. It would need to have it in order to properly interpret such disparate inputs. Anyway, the robots should be finishing up soon so I suggest you keep quiet and watch the ring.”
Several minutes passed and Alcar was about to ask if something should have happened by now when a blinding flash of light erupted from the ring. The view panel on the shuttle automatically made itself opaque. When it shifted back into transparency the Ring looked as it always had but something barely perceptible had changed in the view.
“Look at the stars through the Ring”, cried Alcar, “They've changed!”
Mesko remained silent for a moment and then finally said, “Yes... yes they have.”
Something else had changed as well. It took Alcar a while to figure out what it was. The research stations were no longer attached to the Ring. After searching around for a bit Alcar found them flying outward in opposite directions. “What do we do now, Mesko?”, asked Alcar.
This seemed to wake him from his stupor. “Ah, well.... I requested a research ship to come here. It was a bit delayed but it should be here soon, certainly before our supplies run out. In the meantime, unless you can pilot this spacecraft and dock it with the now free-floating research stations we have little else to do but sit here.”

The time did not pass quickly but the research ship did eventually arrive. As soon as the two vessels were docked Alcar and Mesko were guided to some sort of meeting area to be debriefed. A gata in the garments of a high ranking official was there to question them.
“Greetings gentlemen”, said the official, “I am here representing the council. Let's get right to business, shall we. You two were witness to the portal opening. Dr. Mesko, I have read the summary of your ideas concerning the Ring and assume you are the reason it was activated.”
“That is correct, to the best of my knowledge.”
“It is a wormhole connecting two places in space, correct?”
“That appears to be the case, though I don't have enough information to say conclusively.”
“What happened to the two research stations that were, until recently, attached to the ring.”
“Evidently their anchoring was broken by the formation of the portal. I don't recommend trying to recover them. Sir, may I ask you a question?”
“Certainly.”
“While on board the shuttle I noticed radio waves coming through the portal. Their patterns were quite atypical for what you would expect from natural sources. Have you found out anything about it?”
“I'm afraid I don't have much to add at this point. Preliminary analysis indicates that the radio waves come from artificial sources. Currently our main computer is busy analyzing them.”
Another gata entered the room. “Sir,” he said, “the probe has just broken through.”
“Very good. Gentlemen, if you two would please follow me to the bridge.” said the official.
While they pulled themselves to the bridge the official asked the messenger if the probe had begun a star analysis yet. The messenger replied that it had but it would take some time to get a definite location in the galaxy as the probe's computer was not designed for such problems. Upon arriving at the bridge the official sat down in a chair and made an announcement, “All personnel prepare for acceleration. In twenty 'decs we will begin our approach into the portal.”