Aschen Marine's Story

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.

"Where?" Taco called out to Richard, "He said there." Sandman told the Invictus soldier, pointing up at a window. "Make some distance, redirect traffic. Get the barrier back up." Preston barked at the others on the street, what little authority he had was being used to make sure there wouldn't be a high body count at the end of the day.

"I'll take the shot. Non-lethal." Sandman said, watching as several NPA enforcers raised their weapons at the window to open fire and kill the RPG-wielding terrorist. The wail of firetruck sirens began to join the other sirens in keeping the city awake for awhile longer while chaos reigned supreme.

"Negative. We are eliminating the threat." One of the NPA Enforcers responded to Sandman, "Fire." He ordered, the NPA Enforcers firing on the window with a clear intention to make sure their attackers would not be having an open casket funeral.

Swiss cheese would be an appropriate term for the aftermath.

The shots chipped away at the building, the barrage of bullets making it hard to tell there was ever a window. It was just a hole where the window used to be now.

In the burning building Chemo and his team swept through the flames slowly, the barrier around them weakening as the flames grew stronger and debris slammed against it. "There's no one in here. We gotta go." Mulan told the team, "Like, now. Fire bad." She said.

"I agree with her, I'm not a fan of being cooked." Chemo muttered.

The Driver of the limousine frowned, and noted that the Coalition Escort was providing sufficient protection for them to carry on. With a jerk of the wheel and a quick push of the throttle, the engine roared it's affirmation and the Limousine took a sharp turn to the right, down an adjacent side road that would take them to Hagan avenue.

As the Limousine moved, the IFVs followed suit, signalling for the Coalition units to follow.

"Three one to Kobol's Killers, I'm glad to have you aboard, next stop will be Hagan Avenue where we can unload our VIPs and get them safely to where they need to be."


As the Limousine moved down the side road, Inviere slowly lowered her rifle and placed it back into it's compartment, while the center divider raised back up to separate the driver from the rest of the cabin.

"There won't be any need, Norrington. We're taking a detour." She said, settling back into her seat.

"If I can arrange it, it might make more sense for us to travel by Bifrost, its a lot cheaper than taking a Reverence to Langara." She said, nodding to Gabby and the Bodyguard.

"If you don't mind, that is." She said, turning back to Norrington. "Not looking for a way to kill anyone though, just to guarentee everyone's safety and make sure that everything goes off without a hitch."

Gabrielle was a little surprised that Norrington was so nonchalant about what was being asked of him, but she wasn’t about to ask him why. Instead, she remained tucked in the seat, her arms hugging her knees to her chest nice and tight. This was not how she was planning on spending her time away from the bar. The apprehension that had begun to well up just by the notion of going to a strange planet to meet some deity or whatever he was had just intensified by one-hundred-percent. Burying her face in her arms, she vaguely felt Norry moving closer to him, but that didn’t make her feel any better. What if he got shot and killed here? She would hate herself forever because it would be ultimately her fault.

Think happy thoughts… think happy thoughts… think happy thoughts…

If she wasn’t so worried about falling off the seat, she might have started rocking back and forth, but that was a difficult task to do while lying down on her side. Even Norrington’s admission that he could probably stop bullets if the limo had some bullet-proofing wasn’t all that comforting to her. In fact, it wasn’t until Inviere stated they were going a different way that she released a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. Sitting back up, she glared out the window, suddenly remembering why it was she left Wing City in the first place. Shaking her head, she returned her attention to the other female just in time to hear something about a Bifrost.

“What… de hell is a Bifrost? And it’s too early t’ tell if yer tryin’ to kill us or not.”

Despite apparently leaving the conflict Norrington wasn't anymore calm. "Yeah yeah, anything to get off this shit-stick of a world," he muttered, moving back away from Gabby and promptly dropping his glove through the shadows of his front pocket again. Now he was suspicious. He didn't have proof... But how could he know it wasn't just a test to see how well armed he still was? It made him swallow uncomfortably at the thought the Aschen's could be so conniving.

His eyes avoided Inviere's for the time being, choosing to instead look towards the window and seem as casual as he could. Better to not let information slip from now on. "Teleporting," he suddenly spoke, "Or close enough to. And sure I'll trust you." He also wasn't going to let on that he was confident they could have killed him by now.

"No you don't. You may think you transcend reality, it is merely the horizon of something beyond your synthetic understanding.' The third voice scoffed. Aiyanna's attempts to further disrupt the Tratos and her systems became utterly futile as she faced more roadblocks. Owyn was quick on his feet as usual with the aid of his life partner, Glynda. The two ambrites contested to restart and cleanse the Trato's systems with a thorough sweep as none of the Avaeon architecture was nothing like conventional computers although still vulnerable like any machine once it was learned.

"She trying at a zigguraut passive entry. Pulling the plug." Elandra saw what the A.I. was doing with a keystroke and a mental impasse then as effortless as a thought Aiyanna was 'kicked out' of Tratos systems which snapped her out of her small synapse infliction for a moment.

"Systems restored." Owyn announced happily. "She isn't an ordinary A.I. Too bad the core's interface wasn't built to handle her proper."

"You were having fun, weren't you?" Glynda mused.

"Not now you two, we got more pressing matters. I want everyone ready to fight their way out of here." The Karll paged everyone connected into the mental network.

"Their ship switched to an analog auxiliary means of functionality, we can no longer systematically disrupt them like before although they're not as responsive. We have time to vacate the ship. We tear a hole in her with a warp drive if we have to." Jereth reported after mentally tapping into the Tratos sub-systems for a situation report.

"Let's hope it won't come to that." Tyrena replied telepathically. "Greyshaw move your ass!

The ambassador was hesitant. "Wait! The Morphus is trying to salvage the situation, Captain. Stand down! I beg you!"

Telepathically the Captain pinged the Karll and the Security detail the tram was stuck and they needed extraction on the double while the ambassador tried to salvage a rather bleak situation since it was obvious now they started a war with the Aschen.

Back inside the Reverence docking bay where the Tratos was spooling up her systems for an emergency jump inside the ship the Karll and Lieutenant Jereth advanced towards the trams to extract the Captain and the ambassador. The Avaeon warsworn activated their weapon packs which transformed from compact shapes off their backs into rifles and shoulder mounted heavy weapons. They went from deceptively unarmed to being armed to the gills within seconds. The Warsworn sergeant, Creed, walked forward calmly with his weapon in hand towards the contingent of marines now gathering at the trams in defensive positions.

"This might get messy." He thought to his squad.

Seconds after the Coalition first response ships showed up, outside the Aboslution a strange energy signature was picked up right above the ship itself merely meters away. Its energy signature was off the scale and nothing like they have seen before. The energy signature was accompanied by a gravitational anomaly similar to a large ship. So far there was nothing really physical to get a lock on let alone anything for them look at other than what they can pick up on highly calibrated sensors.

The space and reality a few hundred meters above the Absolution began to contort as if it was being bent and became complete nothingness like a different space time was being torn then materializing again in the interim. Finally a sliver of something, an amorphous shape of sorts melted from the blackness into the current reality. This object, whatever it was, was easily a mile in length with nothing being emitted from it. Optical visuals will see only a shape in the blackness like black on black. No type of energy, particle or anything related to the quantum realm of physics and space time only a ship and nothingness which was a paradox in nature that can only befuddle only the brightest minds in the universe.

"Attention Imperial and Coalition forces, this is Siith Marshall Kaoutl Kalus of the WarScythe. Stand down and allow the Envoy to leave in peace. Failure to comply means death." A disembodied voice broadcasted on all channels with no traceable source. It was disturbingly cool, collected and calculated.

The Morphus woman silently shook her head as the Android took two steps back. She had long removed herself from the Avaeon system, leaving them to tangle with copies. Utilizing her Calx systems, she ran in a proverbial Autistic mode, shutting out all but recognized Aschen frequencies.

The Android narrowed her eyes, which scintillated a brilliant silver.

"I will allow you to return to your vessel under the authority of the Divine Shadow." The Android said calmly. "But know this, the Empire will not be so welcoming with your people in the future, first impressions are always the last impressions. This encounter will be forever imprinted on the minds of the Aschen Empire and the International Community as a whole." The Android explained, her eyes on the Captain and the Ambassador.

"Your people know no concept of peaceful interaction from my observations." Aiyanna continued, while Myuria frowned.

"I had hoped that this would have been a productive discussion. I will have to submit my report on this encounter to EN II, and Ex will determine our course of action, if any, that we will need to take." She said, pointing her staff towards the tracks of the tram, the ice that had locked it up had vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"If your people return here, I cannot guarantee it will not be met without violence." Aiyanna added, before she turned to walk towards the CIC.

"Neutron-848, this is the AHSC AI Aiyanna, the aliens have been allowed to depart in peace, if they are to take any further hostile actions against Aschen assets in this sector, you are authorized to terminate them with extreme prejudice." Her message was broadcast on a powerful subspace relay, through an extra-dimensional loop and fed directly into Coalition systems using a dated analog protocol, akin to that of morse code.

Inside the CIC, Admiral Nash was leaning against the railing as DRADIS Screens lit up with a strange anomaly. In her mind she thought the Android had gone rampant, and decided to take command.

"All hands Action stations!" She ordered, and alarms began to blare, violet lighting shifted to a darkened red, backlit by the flickering holographic screens.

"Helmsman! Adjust three one nine carom nine five seven, get us the frak away from that alien ship!" With the Helmsmen throwing levers forward, the ship's massive engines kicked on, and all 32 Kilometers of Reverence lurched forward.

"Hard-Light shields full strength, all weapons batteries prepare to open fire, Authorization Three Gamma." Nash called out, while a polygonal hard-light forcefield erupted around the Aschen ship, as it pulled away, the Bloodied Spirit and the rest of the defense fleet moved into a wide crescent position.

"Unidentified Alien Vessel this is the Bloodied Spirit, stay your position, if you approach you will be fired upon." It was then the Bloodied spirit engaged it's own hard light shields, and bore all 158 Turbo-disruptor batteries on the alien anomaly.

In the Hangar Bay, the Defensive Marines readied their weapons as the Warsworn approached, the Marine sergeant took a step back and moved into a tactical position.

"Stop right there! Do not approach! We will open fire!"

Myuria had already moved with the pair on the Tram towards the Hangar Bay. She said nothing to them for a time as they moved along the lateral structure of the ship.

She turned towards Morieghan and she frowned.

"Our people are not similar." The Morphus woman said. "We do not seek war with the civilizations of this universe. We seek to enlighten and guide them. I have pondered your species and their actions during this discourse and I am sure my report will reflect that your species still has a great deal to learn."

Once the tram reached the other side Myuria frowned, Warsworn advancing on Aschen Marines, which would no doubt turn into a firefight. With a subtle motion of her staff, a symboligical barrier was erected between the two, with manifest energies, the Warsworn would be unable to advance further, however Morieghan and Tyrena would be permitted through the barrier.

"Now leave these people in peace." The Morphus commanded, as the massive bay doors began to open up.

"And return only during such time as you are willing to come on the laurels of peace, rather than the arrows of war."

It was a while until any of the Avaeons spoke with mere moments away from the tram arriving in the hangar.

"You put my reputation at stake for your little games? I did not think 'they' would have anything to do with affairs outside the Veil." Moreighan complained out loud so Myuria could overhear them. Tyrena was annoyed at the ambassador's continued attempts to be diplomatic contrary to his role.

"We've been observing aliens for generations from the safety of the veil and it is naive to think everyone is going to play nice. If the Aschen are indeed peaceful they would not require an invasive empire to be peaceful. It is contradictory." Tyrena explained. She slid her eyes to Myuria.

"When will the Aschen be satisfied within its own borders? They overtook this sector without too much trouble. Is it some insecurity or some pattern with their kind to bully powers far smaller than the Aschen in order to feel content?" Tyrena inquired the Morphus in a obvious octave of condescension.

The situation only got worse when the marines dared to challenge the warsworn. Just when the sergeant huffed and brandished his gravity hammer to bring it down to wreck havoc on the marines the Captain mentally informed him to stand down just in time for Myuria to cast her barrier.

"Creed they're allowing us to leave. We crossed the threshold." Tyrena spoke.

"So mission success?" The sergeant sounded as if he was in on this too.

"Well, maybe not for a particular ambassador. Let's get the hell out of here before these aliens change their minds." Tyrena replied without breaking stride past the barrier.

There were no more attempts of aggression towards the aliens the Tratos and its crew departed without any further provocation. The WarScythe on the other hand moved away from the Absolution with the alacrity of a fighter it seemed like. A ship that size with that capability was hardly considered possible.

"So what should we tell the Roiken? That you tried to start a war with the aliens?" Morieghan was barely to keep his composure the moment the Tratos was away.

"The Roiken sanctioned it." Tyrena spoke.

"What?!" The ambassador could not believe his ears. Just as drama simmered down aboard the absolution it reached a new level on the Tratos as it flew out of the hangar at great speed.

Communications were ignored the second the Tratos left the hangar doors of the Absolution then it disappeared into warp space as did the Warscythe to leave the Aschen contemplating about the future with these visitors.

With the fire bearing down on them, the team of Invictus, NPA, and WCPD officers retreated from the burning building. Firefighters had arrived, their trucks blocking much of the street as they went to work on connecting their hoses to fire hydrants.

The fire that raged would stand no chance against Wing City's finest firefighters.

"You guys okay?" Taco asked the men and women as they put distance between themselves and the burning building. "I think so. There wasn't anyone inside. My guess is they got out of Dodge when shit hit the fan." Chemo said, "You're Canadian, how do you know that expression?" Taco asked the Invictus soldier.

"Canada is still in America, some of your history is our history." Chemo answered, stepping aside to let the firefighters work. Watching as they used their hoses to beat the flames into submission.

Preston stood by with the other commanding officers on the street, glancing towards the building he saw Anodyne enter into. "Worried?" A SWAT commander asked, "Not really. She's tough. It's just taking her awhile." Preston answered.

Despite Anodyne's tough exterior, she was just a woman mentally. For all Preston knew she was inside that building processing what she saw. The attackers could have slaughtered the people who lived in the apartment, or Anodyne could have been pleading with them to give up and come peacefully.

But, Preston heard gunshots. It was unlikely that the criminals, the terrorists, would be brought out alive.

As the Aschen Reverence II slowly eased forward, the AI noted that the alien ship had suddenly began to lose power.

"Admiral, the unknown alien vessel is losing power, and apparently seems to be suffering catastrophic structural failure across the board." The AI parroted.

"Tactical situation; the ship appears to be self destructing." The AI continued. And Admiral Whitcomb scowled. "Something's not right here.." She said, before she turned to the AI holocron.

"Get a Marine Strike force and an SAR team prepped and ready for launch, send them to that ship. I want answers and if there's any survivors, I'm going to get them."

"Have the Marines and Medical personnel sent with psionic inhibitors and personal psionic isolation units."

Unknown Vessel, recent explosion signature doesn't match any of our ordinance. Excepting your kill, contact appears to have suffered from an internal detonation. Pending instruction.

The Admiral listened to the Dark Rain hail, and then she keyed the comms.

"We haven't opened fire, we're picking it up too, it's an internal detonation and we're also picking up survivors. I've dispatched Raptors to investigate, and bring them aboard for detention and questioning. Keep an eye out for bogeys, this might be a trap." The Admiral warned.

"SAR team away." The AI Affirmed.


----

As Morieghan and Dugal seemed to drift through the blackness of space, a single Reverence S Class corvette, escorted by a squadron of FX-1 Apollos moved across the vast void of space.

Slowly and surely, the black glossy, curved ship moved directly above the pair, and the team was ready to recieve them.

"Grav lift is good." One Marine called out, while checking his Disruptor rifle, and then his Psionic isolator, which was a small device on his head designed to keep himself shielded from psionic intrusion.

"Reel them in." A Sergeant called out, and a column of purple light engulfed the pair, and slowly drew them into the cargo bay of the Corvette. Once they were inside the ship, the circular doors closed shut under them, and the gravity of the ship took hold, which meant air, and gravity would greet them, along with a team of Aschen Soldiers and a pair of Medics.

"Get them both stabilized." The Medic Sergeant called out, while trying to move them to a stretcher.