Gardeign

The Captain walked into a small room with an equally small table. Behind it sat an intimidating muscular Lysk. The Lysk was grown larger than most, and this added to the feel of power and respect that radiated off of him. Yet the most striking feature about him was the golden fur that adorned his body. It shined brilliantly in the light, and was only darkened at the forehead, where a large black mark like sword showed prominently, and under his blue eyes, similiar blacks marks like fire emphasizing them. "Pherion Savier, sir!" The Captain saluted by standing on his hind-legs, and folding his arms over his chest, exposing his belly as a sign of submission.

"At ease, captain." The golden Lysk spoke in a rough strained voice that indicated he was older than he looked.

The Captain fell back to the floor on his hands. "I am pleased to report that the Battle-Skin V. 1.5 prototypes have been delivered safely."

Pherion Savier nodded in approval, "Very good. How have they preformed so far?"

The Captain replied, "I am uncertain myself, as I have not tested them personally, but the reports indicate that the new armoring does not restrict movement and they provide the minimum decrease in speed achievable. The claws, as well, appear to work up to expectations."

Pherion Savier tilted his head, and asked, "And what is your opinion Captain?"

The navy Lysk sighed in response, "As I stated, I can't say. I'm a soldier, not a scientist, and unless I see it in action, or use it myself, I can't form an opinion on it's usefulness. I have faith that the scientists are most likely correct though."

Pherion Savier smirked, "Then I shall as well. You are dismissed Captain. Feel free to take shore leave until you receive new orders."

"Thank you sir." The Captain replied, saluting once again before leaving the room.

The state of the Velidian government had settled into a rare moment of peace. There were no wars going on, no hidden rebellions, and no civil unrest. As such this was the perfect time for the further exploration of space. A series of small scouting ships were sent out loaded with fuel, snow from the polar region, and a few months worth of rations. This ships occasionally landed on colonies or the odd asteroid to restock those very important resources when possible. After a year of hard voyaging and some serious bad luck the one long distance jumpgate in the system had been found by almost complete accident. The Velidus had been searching for new habitable worlds but hadn't found much with scouts of late. The crew was running low on snow and simply didn't have enough to get back to any nearby world safely. By sheer chance the jumpgate had been found. In a last ditch effort to preserve their own lives the ship entered the gate as the swirling energies capable of bending the space time continuum itself engulfed their ship.

Miracle of miracles an ice planet was detected on the radar and it was within travel distance! As our small scouting ship came closer buildings were detected on radar. As this was a scout ship and therefore not armed to the teeth with explosives the crew decided that for once discretion was the better part of valor. They landed in a remote area far from any city hoping not to be noticed. They began digging up the snow they needed almost immediately but the Lysk who inhabited the world would more likely than not have detected the ship and noticed that it wasn't theirs. This would almost certainly warrant some form of investigation.

Savier was looking over the new Battle-Skins as they were unloaded. As an old veteran he was able to pick up on the flaws in the sets of armor, and he could tell they were an agreeable upgrade. As he watched them be scanned, to be certain they were intact, a brown Lysk ran up to him. Skidding to a halt, the young soldier panted for a second before speaking, "Pherion, sir! We've detected something odd!"

Savier's eye twitched. He disliked the low-ranking Lysk's abandonment of procedure, but he put it aside, the young Lysk sounded panicked. "What is it?" He asked, keeping only a fraction of irritation in his old voice.

The young Lysk began rapidly, "Sir, we detected ships coming down into atmosphere over the Northern Mountain Chain. They didn't match any of our ship models, sir. They're not ours."

Pherion Savier's eyes widened. Not theirs? The Lysk were united under one Matriarch. Rebels were an unlikely, the current Matriarch was too popular. How would they have built their own unique ships anyway? No, this was most likely a first contact. Savier's mind kicked into gear, and he began giving instructions, "Contact the Ceredin Council and the Matriarch. Tell them that we've detected an alien vessel, and believe that it's likely another species entirely. I'll be heading to them momentarily. In the meantime, send a group of soldiers under the command Morose to the landing site. Make sure the pilot knows to land out of eyesight."

"Of course, sir." The young Lysk responded, hastily commiting his orders to memory.

"And give Morose one of the new Battle-Skins. Now's as good a time as any to test it out." Savier added as he walked away, heading to his private shuttle.

The young Lysk stared at his superior for a moment before rushing off to fulfill his orders.

Morose sat in the small shuttle calmly. He was a skilled warrior. One of the best. It was how he achieved the high rank of Shindo, despite being only twenty-three. There had been a lot of controversy and uproar in the noble quarters Nibale over him joining the military, after all it was supposed to be below him, but the arguements were gone now. He was talented as a soldier. Of course, he had never considered the duty below him. He viewed it as the best way to serve his Matriarch, and therefore it was his duty to join the military.
The new Battle-Skin fit like a glove, and he inwardly enjoyed it. His helmet remained off though, showing his naturally white covered in blue markings to represent his officer ranking. He stared about at the fully-armored soldiers around him. They were mostly brown-pelts, soldiers under an officer rank, but they were good soldiers all the same.

When the shuttle landed the soldiers were lead out by Morose. The cold winds of the planet buffeted his face, but he was kept warm by his thick fur. He skillfully climbed the rocky ledges with his Battle-Skin's claws, forcing himself to slow down for his troops' sake. As he came to the top he spotted the aliens, and aliens they definantly were. He crawled over the edge carefully and quietly. When he was close enough he jumped from cover, and grabbed the trigger to his shoulder-mounted rifle. "Why are you here?" He asked calmly, not thinking he might not be understood.

Morose's grip fell from his gun. The odd creatures didn't seem to be there too fight, but his subordinates kept their own grip, just in case. The alien's attempt at communication was confusing, but with enough concentration he was able to assume their ship was overheating. He squinted his yellow eyes in thought; Causing the five small blue dots under them to spread out, and the two blue lines on his forehead, the bottom one being larger than the upper, to scrunch up as he did so. He came to the conclusion that the aliens likely weren't a threat at the moment. "Gardeign." He said, moving his arms around to indicated the surroundings.

When he stopped he indicated them again, and pressed one of his hands to his chest, "Gardeign, ours."

"You," he pointed at the alien in front of him, "come," he moved his fingers in toward his palm, "with us," he gestured to himself again.

The captain understood the sign language to some small degree and he attempted to connect it to the sounds as he slowly followed.

Before the following began he gave the order to stop with the shoveling at least temporarily just in case it offended the locals.

His thoughts on the sign language: <Gardeign and waving arms all around... Could that refer to the planet? The mountain range perhaps? Is it their word for snow? Ours must be some reference to the person speaking but what does it imply? Maybe when combined with Gardeign it relates to... Home? Ownership? Eh who can say for certain...? He said you while pointing at me. That's not exactly hard to figure out. The finger movement afterwords is simple. That must be in equivalent meaning to come with us.>

His men meanwhile opened a door on the ship and placed the shovels inside. They weren't certain if the follow command applied to them or not so they more or less stayed in place never straying to far from the people watching them. Most of them sat or found other places to rest. After all they didn't look like they were paying attention during that little scene and the people watching them were making no similar gesture or even trying to herd them in a direction.

ooc: Early communication isn't easy but I hope I did that realistically.

Morose turned, and jerked his head in the direction he was heading toward, adding further explaination to his meaning. He didn't wait to see if the apparent leader of the aliens would follow. He knew if the creature was smart it would, after all it wasn't like it could run if that were it's intention. As he lead the way back down he took a longer, easier, path, unsure as to if the alien could climb down the ledges that Morose had come up. He reached the small shield like shuttle, and waited at it's open door for his men and the alien leader.

Luckily the tundra gear included gloves on both hands and feet made of rubber heated to room temperature. He sensed the cliffs directly between himself and the apparent leader of the furry people. He did something the lysk probably weren't expecting. He ran towards the cliff leading towards the Lysk leader and stopped at the edge for a brief moment before jumping off the side. Using his natural acrobatic skills and feet that gave new meaning to the term ambidextrous he literally swung through air grabbing handholds and footholds alike until he reach the bottom near the shuttle. At that point he started walking towards the Lysk ship in a relaxed fashion as if what he had just done was no big deal at all.

((Wildly unexpected but I thought it would both teach the Lysk a bit about the Velidus and spice up the interaction.))

Morose nodded in interest at the sight of the alien climbing down the cliff. "If I had known you could do that I wouldn't've took the long way." He joked, knowing he wouldn't be understood.
He walked into the shuttle, and took a seat near the door to the pilots. Once everyone was inside he banged on the door ordering, "The alien leader's come willingly. Take us to the palace in Nibale."

"Yes sir." Came the reply from behind the door.

The entrance to the shuttle closed, and it soon lifted off. The window was clear from the inside, and the mountains giving way to the great icy plains formed from the oceans was shown clearly. It was a half an hour of watching the dull ice plains speed by, but they too would soon change. In the meantime, Morose took his hand, and pointed it at himself saying, "Lysk."

He pointed at each of his soldiers in turn, repeating the word to make his point understood. After finishing the one of the pilots' voices came over the intercome, "We're coming up on the city sir."

The change was abrupt and immediate, unlike the mountains' slow fall, but one second there ice. The next there were buildings of a noble white standing out, some small and many large. The metropolis was massive, but it soon changed once more.

Passing an inner wall, the streets became wide pathways, upon which white Lysk walked. On the sides of the road were mansions of gold and white. Behind them were fields of snow, and massive constructs ice, made to look like whatever the mansion owner's wished. Then came the most amazing sight. In the center of what was, obviously, the Nobles' quarter of the city was a massive palace. To one who did not know better the palace itself would appear to be made of ice; it was twisting, turning, and spiraling in columns spreading from the base, and weaving back together at certain points. Yet the gold adorning much of it's structure gave away the fact that it was not really ice.

The view faded, however, when the shuttle pulled into a dock in the palace. The doors opened once more, and Morose led his company outside, into the halls of the great structure.

The Lysk soon entered a grand hall with guards at the side. The guards' armor was different from the soldiers'. Their Battle-skins were white, and their helmets were iron masks that showed the their harsh eyes, instead of the reinforced glass that surrounded the upper-half of the soldiers'. At the end of hall was a large golden throne filled with crimson cushion, and on those cushions was what was unmistakably a white Lysk curled about something. It raised it's head at the entrance of the Lysk soldiers and their "guest," revealing serene golden eyes that red lines wrapped around, and it's forehead was a red circle with a spike at the top and the bottom. It nodded to one of it's guards, and the Lysk came over. As the red-marked Lysk stood it revealed itself to be a female. There was a small amount of whimpering as she stood, but it was hushed as the guard wrapped himself around what it was the female had been wrapped around.

As the red-marked Lysk walked a feeling a calmness, joy, and, more than anything else, power seemed to radiate from her, despite the fact she was very delicate for a Lysk. All the soldiers, except for Morose, rushed forward simultaneously declaring, "Matriarch," and began licking at her paws and hands as she walked, in a form of active submission. The Matriarch waved a hand to dismiss them, and they removed themselves from her side. She stopped in front of the alien, and turned to Morose, nuzzling him shortly, and asking, "And how are you doing Morose?"

"Well, Aunt Fayren." The young Lysk responded. "The alien leader came without arguement. The rest of his crew are being watched at their landing site."

The Matriarch gave a calming toothy smile as she turned face the alien. Surprisingly, she stood on her hind-legs, and offered a hand.

Rasha laid his weapon on the ground behind him to free up his hands. He did it slowly and deliberately so as not to alarm the guards. Turning around in the most graceful manner he could manage he took the matriarch's hand in his and offered an incline of his torso/head similar to a small bow while doing so. Apparently this was simply how the Velidus commoners was trained to react to that gesture from someone in power. It was an acknowledgment of higher standing and respect for those it was addressed to. Pointing a finger at a nearby guard he repeated a term he'd heard before.

(Lysk)

After that he pointed to himself.

(Velidus)

He hoped that none of his gestures had offended anyone and that his basic communication attempt had been understood.

Fayren dropped to all fours once more, after the handshake, and nodded in understanding. The alien's kind was called Velidus. Before she could reply seven Lysk with dyed black fur walked in the hall from behind her throne, followed closely by Pherion Savier. Beneath their eyes was squiggly line, and on their foreheads were five lines pointing upward, each at a different angle, that joined together at a single pont, representing a book. Three of the black Lysk's marks were blue, and four were white. "You should not have started without us, Matriarch." Spoke one of the white marked Lysk in an undeniably old voice.

"Indeed," spoke Savier. "What have you learned of the aliens' intention Morose?"

Morose sat at attention, "The creature made a drawing of what looked like their ship melting, sir. I believe it was overheating, or in danger of doing so. Their leader, here, has identified them as Velidus."

"And what of his crew?" Asked one of the black-and-blue Lysk.

"They remain at their ship, but are under watch." Morose answered.

Matriarch Fayren turned her head behind herself, toward the new company, and spoke soothingly, "Gentlement, calm yourselves. They are just one vessel, and can not cause any harm or escape, if they tried. Aside, from that the Velidus leader is here willingly."

The old black-and-white Lysk spoke up again, "You must understand caution Ma--"

"I understand caution perfectly well Councilor, but we are not cowards either. As I have stated, the Velidus can do no harm at present. Treating them hostilely will only make a bad impression." The Matriarch replied sternly.


The other Lysk quieted themselves. Not because they full-heartedly agreed, but because of the authority in their leader's voice. Fayren turned back to the Velidus, and spoke, raising her hand to her chest, "Matriach. Fayren. Leader."

Rasha didn't understand a word of what had just been said but as conversation was still happening and not in a hostile way he assumed it meant good or at least neutral things for him. He remembered how matriarch was said while submissive gestures were made before. That meant matriarch was probably their position of power. He was pretty sure based off of previous introductions that one of the other two words was her name. Perhaps the third had something further to do with general position? Eh he could only guess and try to mirror her introduction as best he could. Pointing towards himself he made the attempt.

(Captain, Rasha, Scout ship.)

Hopefully he'd gotten what she meant to say right.
-
Meanwhile with the crew the growl of stomachs could be heard from inside the ship. Movement could be seen as the crew opened a compartment and added water to what looked like raisins and strips of beef jerky. They expanded into what looked like strips of meat and grapes. The sound and smell of cooking meat was intense as the meat was placed in a small oven. It went fairly quickly. In an attempt to gain trust medium sized chunks of fully cooked meat were placed on clean wooden kabobs and held out in offering to those Lysk who would take them.

((You saw the preparation of the meat from start to finish and the Velidus are also eating the same meat. I'd say there's no reasonable room for suspicion at this point. Wouldn't you agree neo?))

The Matriarch pasued to consider the Velidus' introduction. She was uncertain of which word had been his name, and could only take a guess. "Rasha," She began to address the alien.

Without warning she removed he blade on Morose's back, and swiftly brought it's tip to the Velidus' neck. The black blade shined dully in the hall, and rang out a continous note. Electricity sparked from the blade, constantly shifting and changing. "War," She said in a harsh, but lowered the blade while offering and open hand, "or peace?"

----------------------

The Lysk stared at the food cautiously. Several of their stomachs growled in lust for the offerings, and so they began to remove their helmets. As they cautiously chewed the meat they continued to watch the aliens. Those that weren't hungry kept their positions, and refused to lower their guard. Even if the food wasn't deadly they still didn't know the aliens' intentions, and assuming it was peaceful would be stupid.

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Elsewhere, in the Abandoned Star system several Lysk ships lifted off. Two small Frigates escorted by a massive Cruiser were going beyond the Jumpgate in this system. The goal was a simple exploration one. Scout out what's behind, and return. Their glass sails rose from their sides, and the satellites orbiting the planet launched their lasers to move the ships. They entered into the Jumpgate behind the planet, and their crews bunkered down for a potentially long trip.

Rasha had learned the word come already and the sign language reaffirmed it. Apparently Fayren wanted him to relax in this general area. He picked up his weapon and followed the guard closely like a good little guest. He spent the walking time pondering about how he really hoped no more electrical swords were taken out anywhere near him and about the language gap.
-
The Velidus who were laying down had drifted off into peaceful slumber while the others simply sat and waited. Clearly they thought something would happen with time.

The Guard lead Rasha into a large room with a window looking out over the Noble Quarter. The room itself was massive, and was filled with beds enough for many people. "Stay." The guard said, pointing at the ground, and leaving the room.

-------------------

Morose arrived in his shuttle, and landed it much closer to the Velidus ship then before. He gathered his soldiers into the ship, and then went to the Velidus. His own shuttle lifted off the ground, and he spoke to the aliens, pointing at their ship then his, "Velidus, come."

He hoped they understood, as his shuttle began to leave already.

Rasha was picking up bits and pieces of the Lysk language slowly. Hopefully a few months he'd be at least somewhat fluent with the language. That however would come later. For now he picked a bed, removed his rubber boots/gloves, placed his weapon on the ground near the bed, and relaxed under the light covers. After all he certainly didn't want to track melted snow or other such debris in his new bed.
-
Those who were awake quickly took piloting positions and soon the roar of their engines could be heard. They were quick to catch up to the generals ship and maintain a steady following pace behind it. Even if they hadn't understood they knew they weren't going to be leaving the planet any time soon and that their former captors were probably moving for civilization.

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.))