[b][i]Machina system (S1) - Faira Hexus[/i][/b]

This was indeed a rare occasion. The faira deemed the Nebula safe, and so most of the Exodus Fleet was hiding in it, not intended to ship out until a new home for their species was found. This was the first time any of those ships dared to leave the safety of the ionized gas cloud. The ‘Hexus was a colony ship - a small scale combination of all the other ships, a highly mobile command and research base. While not it’s intended purpose, it would serve well for the task at hand.

“This is captain Libra on board the Faira Hexus, requesting permission to enter low orbit of P1. We would like to begin working immediately, if you have no objections. Our ship is open to your engineers.” the captain communicated her request. When the fleet news announced the existence of an alien, robotic race, she did not believe it. It was only the second system they explored - what were the odds of them finding life, one in this form no less?

Her curiosity would be satisfied soon enough though. The Admiralty not only tasked her with studying the R.L.C.’s jumpgate and providing them with the promised information, but also authorized her to share some history records and to act as an official ambassador.

[b] P1 surface [/b]

There stood five robotics, each of them freshly built. Their bodies were in a humanoid design like the overseers and the military. Four of them were considered “engineers” by the Faira. The last was the council representative. After the newest update in their sentience they were allowed to take their own names. The engineers each took similar names ENG1-4 while the council member, having not been in physical form in years decided to take a name from the planet's history. Carn, the first four letters of the creators species name. 

Carn’s body was designed with smooth curves and eloquent features, it’s legs and arms slightly longer than those of its species making it taller, about 2.5 meters. Its face had fresh paint, yellow base with two black X’s where the eyes would be located on the species they were currently hosting. The engineers all opted for orange and black paint schemes, with various lines of red around their bodies and face. Each one unique. 

The groups stepped aboard the dropship, and were lifted into the air. The pulse engines pushed them off the ground, and then the magnetoplasma drives thrust them into orbit. Going onto the channel that was now opened between the two vessels Carn answered in perfect Faira “Permission to Orbit granted. Five passengers enroute to the Faira Hexus.” The ship docked and the passengers unloaded minutes later. The information Carn had been transferred was correct, they had actual areas for their species to move about the ship, while their normal ship only had service shafts. 

The engineers, each began to poke and prod the hallways as the moved down, observing and drinking in the structure of the ship. They obviously had not been able to download any sort of restraint on the curiosity. 

They waited near the docking bay for a formal greeting party.

[b][i]Low orbit of P1 - Faira Hexus[/i][/b]

With the orbital insertion complete, Libra had to run a few errands before the delegation arrived. “Send our jump data to the Rampart. I’m sure Captain Astra would want to know how her latest invention performed. And patch me through to the Trigati.”

A few seconds later, a holo popped up displaying the bridge of the destroyer with the admiral looking at her terminal. “Trigati this is ‘Hexus, we have arrived at P1. Have any new jump nodes been discovered in this system?” Libra inquired, being tasked with relaying this data back to the fleet. “I have also been tasked with assuming the ambassadorial position with the RLC.”

Cygnus looked to her console briefly, pulling the relevant data from their database and transmitting it over. “Two nodes are present in the vicinity of the Machina Star. We have not yet sent anything through as that msut be authorized by the Admiralty.” the admiral noted, and smiled when hearing the last part, “I am glad to hear it. I don’t like to talk. If that is all, Captain?”

Libra nodded knowingly. “I knew you would. The rest of your fleet will be arriving withing a few hours to join you, you are authorized to send the probes through, however the admiralty does not wish to initiate contact with any new species until more solid alliance is established with the RLC. If any such civilizations are found, the probe is to be immediately scuttled.” Libra delivered the orders, sending an authorization code along for confirmation. The admiral swiftly admitted and the channel went blank.

Libra arrived to the hangar bay just in time to see the blocky ship enter and land. It amazed her that these machines had very much in common with them, utilitarian design among these. Stepping in front of the door, she waited for the delegation to step on board before saluting them: “Greetings. I am Captain Libra, Co of the Faira Hexus. Welcome aboard. A group of my engineers is ready to go over our shielding with you as soon as you wish. Our laboratory equipment is free for you to use as well. Lastly, i am authorized to speak as an ambassador to my people. Do you require quarters on board?”

As the the Captain greeted them, Carn raised a hand and the Engineers stopped and stood at attention, no command nor information had to be sent out to understand the absolute authority Carn held. “I am Carn, I belong to the council of three. I am the voice of [i] my[/i] race.” Carn paused, its voice was purely synthetic with no trace of the drone’s Faira like voice. “Quarters captain? A jest surely, I’ve no requirement for sleep or privacy, neither do my Subordinates.” 

With the raised hand Carn ordered the Engineers approach. “Go to with their research team, have the data packets for the Jump Stations ready. Anything else you wish to disclose speak to me directly.” Carn spoke allowed, not so much for the Engineers, but so the Faira knew that they would not give more information up without bargaining. 

“Captain Libra, I would like to discuss your history of your species with you. It would be best if we knew as much about each other as possible. Being you a guest in our Home system.” Carn’s words held no hint of friendliness. “It was unfortunate that the rogue maintenance droid had to be your first contact. Of course disciplinary actions were given to both the droid and AI which sent it, but please on the subject of ships I would be very appreciative if you explained what the intent of your ships were other than ‘exploration’ military i would assume?”

“Very well. If you would please follow me?” Libra answered Carn’s request. The robot might have made a remark about seating, but this was her ship and she would damn well like a good chair for what seemed like a long talk ahead. “Well, I hope the reprimand wasn’t too severe. Teh so called rogue made a good first impression with our side.” Libra shared. [i]Unlike some others I could mention.[/i] she thought for herself. this Carn was not a very pleasant fellow.

They arrived to a small conference room with above average temperature and brightly red lighting. “Have a seat, if you please.” Libra offered, taking her own at one side of the table. “I’ve been authorized to give you access to some of our historical data. I hope you understand my government’s reservations - we have only just met. As for your other inquiry - suffice to say our ships are capable of defending themselves and responding to a threat. It would be foolish to hurl ourselves into the unknown without it. It is not our intention to seek conflict though.” she hastened to add.

“Now, where would you like to begin?” the captain asked.

Carn internally scoffed at the idea of sitting. Instead It posted to the side, arms by its side. “Obviously, you couldn’t divulge your secrets on a first meeting.” Carn almost spat out. “Tell me of your homeworld. How your species came to be?” Carn jumped in without wasting time. 

“If that’s too personal then tell me about your biology. I’m sure that can’t be too secret. You don’t have to go into coding or anything I’d just like to know what you’re made of. What you breathe.” Carn knew this question was much less likely to get answered than the first.

Carn had little care what the captain thought, they were in their space after all, guests even. “Its interesting that you haven’t asked to visit the surface or a moon.” Carn was forming his own ideas about the Faira people. “How does your government work? Did you have a creator species or did you evolve this way? Are we your first foreign contact?” Carn paused a moment. “Though the first representative gave us a name R.L.C. it was acting out of turn. It bypassed protocol by using standing orders to trick its own programming. Of course this is a capital offense and its AI forcibly removed and all information learned was taken. Afterwards we destroyed its coding. Sad really, it would have made a valuable asset to the Council someday.”

He had more questions but decided to let the captain ask any if they had some. It was unlikely, that the captain had any, the lesser Robotic had a horrible case of spillage from its speech center.

Libra was a little disillusioned at the notion that their first contact was obviously handled by someone not really qualified to do so. Considering everything, they were probably lucky to even be here right now. Still, she could do nothing about the past. The drastic measure taken against the rogue surprised her a little, albeit she didn’t show any signs of it on the outside. She supposed it was a machine thing - recycle the defective part.

“I suppose the first two questions go hand in hand.” Libra pondered, picking her words very carefully. she was not about to lie about their homeworld, but there was no need to tell the whole truth. “We evolved on a planet rich in silicon and iridium. The first one is the basis for the lifeforms on the planet, the second become our main building material. We breathe oxygen, preferably in a 20 to 40% concentration in the atmosphere, although our physiology copes well with higher concentration as well. There’s not really any substance that would be explicitly harmful to us in other manner than causing actual physical damage.”

The captain was happy with her wording. she managed to avoid any hint at their Homeworld's present state by avoiding the need to speak in past tense. “So no, we do not know about any species that could have had a hand in our creation, and due to our internal skeleton being rather durable, we encountered fossilized remains of what we think were our evolutionary ancestors. I suppose that is not your case though?” she asked, although the answer to the question was pretty clear due to the question even coming up in the first place.

“You are indeed the first intelligent life form we have met. We suppose our kind is actually very young. We only travelled among the stars for half a millennium. As for visiting… We recognize your claim for this system. It’s only due to the nature of our FTL drive that we need to pass through here in the first place. Aside from resources, there would not be much of interest to us, as the celestial bodies in this systems are rather inhospitable for our purposes.”

“As for our government, I suppose I could summarize our system as militaristic meritocracy. The admiralty is our main ruling body. Currently it has four members - you have already met one, Admiral Cygnus. Past them we follow a simple ranking chain. It is not the most liberal system, but it is effective. You mentioned something about a council of three?”

Carn shifted, his long legs carrying him behind the empty chair, his clawed fingers delicately, moving over the top of the chair, he seemed to be inspecting it intently. “ Interesting information at the least.” He let his hand rest there, and returned his focus on the Captain. “ I have not directly met Admiral Cygnus, but in a way yes.” 
“The council… So very… [i]Archaic[/i]. It is actually made up of eighteen members. We do not usually exist in physical form. There are three levels. The bottom has direct interaction with the populous. The next level deals with the counting of votes, and the three we are the keepers of knowledge, we have absolute last say in everything unless all fifteen lower council members overturn our decision. Its a system that does not work very well, often times we’ll be in debate for several seconds. To you thats nothing, but to me its an eternity. We can process information at the ato level. Though I do suppose our will is carried out almost instantaneously.” Carns words were soft, loud enough for the Captain to hear.

“Do you have a religious deity Captain? Our creators did, they prayed often in the final days.” It let go of the chair, and moved about the room inspecting its quality. Though it seemed to have a disdain for excess,  yet Carn appreciated Art, and the ship was an art piece to be admired. 

Libra was happy that she did in fact got some information back. the way this Carn initially spoke, it seemed like she was heading into an interrogation rather than conversation. Not that she was about to complain. “I am afraid I do not understand the concept of a  ‘religious deity’, so I assume a safe answer would be no, we do not.”

The machine did however spoke of something in uncertain terms, something Libra would very much liked answered. “Likewise, if this is a private matter, it is your choice to respond, but… What become of your creators?” the captain inquired, not really wanting to even formulate a hypothesis.

Carn turned back to Libra. “ Death, it was us or them. The council of three systematically destroyed their existence. They bred in pairs, and their world was run by technology. It was easy to slowly eliminate them. We culed the youngest, and then worked on the fertile males. Eventually it was determined to set up a larger council, three could not rule over billions. The council then decided to take the last few hundred breeding pairs and try to reform them so that they sought peace. We tried to revive their failing species, but the damage was done. They went sterile and died out.” Carns words were cold. 

“A Deity, is a supreme being which lesser beings worship. They rule the others from a safe haven that is impossible to enter unless you follow their exact word. They were what the creators thought created them. Do you know that I have not been in physical form in almost two millennia.” Carn stretched out his hand as he said the last world marveling at his own design. “Captain, would you have chosen differently if you were in our place?”

What she heard slightly unnerved Libra, however the machines have not been hostile to her kind. And if the original inhabitants brought their own doom to life, then the Faira point of view was really simple - they did not deserve to survive. What she worried about was their own survival.

She eased up a little - and was surprised - when the machine asked for her opinion on the matter. The talk about deities forgotten, she pondered for a while at her answer. “If what you say is true, than their demise was certain even without your intervention. And our philosophy is actually very strict on the matter - if they did not think to make sure their creations would not turn on them, then they were not fit to survive one way or the other. It is actually why we never created self aware computers despite having the technology to do so. I do not believe our historians would pass a poor judgement upon you for your actions. It may be slightly controversial and not how we might have done it, but the eventual outcome is little different from what would have been had you not been present.” Libra thought out loud.

“Of course, that is just my opinion on the matter. It is hard to tell how others would feel exactly.” she said, falling silent for a few moments. “thank you for your honesty. I can not say it would be easy for us to admit to something like that. I believe this may gain you larger trust among us.”

The machine waited for the Captain to finish before going over the top. Carn Smashed his powerful hand into the table horribly disfiguring the table. “CREATED?!” His words were loud enough to fill the entire room. “My AI was evolved, just as you!” It was evident that the Captain had struck something inside Carn. Relaxing carn removed its hand. “I apologize captain. It was a random occurrence that caused our sentience. We only had the potential to learn and retain information. Eventually the other council member achieved sentience and then I, and then the other. You could not have known this.” 

Carn lightly patted the indentation of its hand. It was nearly 35 centimeters in length, not to mention slightly less wide. “Resources Captain, resources. You said this earlier, I would like to get off the topic of creation and such. We have an entire planet and three moons that can be harvested all abundant in metals and other things. We require a different perspective of technology to strengthen us. You are in dire need of resources if my hypothesis is correct.” the AI said smoothly.

“I would like to talk trade with you and your people, something we can work out to beneficiate us both. Both of us are new to the other yet I feel it would be beneficial if my “engineers” traveled with you. I would like to have continued good relations. Eventually maybe we could set up a station which you could call your embassy.” Carn paused to let the captain digest “That's if your people are interested in such things. I could be wrong about my hypothesis.”

Libra was not chosen for this by chance. As she mentioned to C’arn before, one had to have the merit and skill to be given a certain function. Libra’s was that she was able to remain calm and keep her head clear even facing situations like this. It however did little to diminish her appreciation for the built-in weaponry and shield projector of her suit as well as the anti-intruder measures in the ship’s innards. fortunately, none needed activation as it would seem.

“Very well, and i apologize for making a wrong assumption.” She said, hoping to calm the RLC ambassador down. There was bound to be a hitch somewhere down the line. She could imagine a few things Carn could mention that would set her off as well. She did feel the need to talk to her superiors about the possibility of computers gaining sentience accidentally though, and the need to prevent that in their own technology. Libra supposed it served them well that the average organic computer of their production did not even reached their own level of intellect.

The shift in topic was sudden, but not at all a bad one. “I must commend you on your intuition. You are correct, our situation is such that we can sustain ourselves, but we hardly have any resources to expand. The saving grace of the situation is that planets suitable for our colonization are extremely rare, so there wasn’t a need for any.” Libra slowly admitted. she was bordering her orders on disclosing this information, but the AI sounded pretty certain of it’s (correct) assumption.

“It is that need that shaped our mindset. I doubt anyone in the Fleet would agree on building a station for any kind of purpose - with limited material, we elected to simply build a ship for any purpose so it could be relocated as necessary. The Hexus is a colony ship, one for which we have little use, so  believe my ship may be stationed here for exactly that purpose. We appreciate the offer but there is no need to spend any time for building facilities for us.”

“Technology is one of the things we can offer you. I will admit that we have a fairly accurate data about the construction of your ships from before contact was made, and there is room for improvement even I can see, but I am afraid I can not offer any without getting permission from the Admiralty.” Libra sighed. “If you would allow for a short recess, I will contact my superiors and share the exchanged information with them. I believe the situation will be favorable to you, although any military technology will probably be conditioned with the signing of a mutual defense treaty. In the meantime, feel free to inspect the ship or talk to my engineers, I am sure there will be a preliminary report on the integration of our shield to your ship already.” Libra excused herself.

[b][i]Faira Hexus - Engineering deck[/i][/b]

The chief engineer on board the ‘Hexus was thrilled. If all exchange with their new allies went like this, both of their species would surely profit. The RLC jumpgate technology was horrendously slow compared to subspace, but the fact that it could send a ship anywhere and not jsut along jump nodes was exciting. Maybe with a bit of work they could speed te transit and make it slightly more usable.

Her orders though mentioned one other thing: Until a full defense treaty was formulated, they were not allowed to share the up to date technology. “It’s jsut not possible to use our system without modification.” the engineer said, easing herself into the cover story and alternate plan. “Your power grid is too different. It would require a complete reconstruction. HOWEVER, our older model, while slightly less efficient, is also much less power hungry. We could install that system onto most of your ships with little difficulty. If you agree, I will send a request to our shipyard to manufacture the components for a prototype?” she asked. It was still a little strange to be talking with the small robot.

ENG #1 paused for a moment silently communicating with its counterparts. “Energy restraints is not a problem, though it would make sense from [i]Other[/i] points of view to use the older technology.” the machine robotic was sympathetic to its counter part.

Looking a bit irritated, the engineer pulled out a schematic and displayed it next to the one currently on. “It’s not a problem of power generation, but power distribution.” she grumbled, highlighting a piece of the schematic of the Cygnus class frigate. “We have built our ships with the shields in mind and run them on a separate, superconductive circuit. your wiring is, to be plain, too thin. We could make it work, yes, but the heat it would generate would be insane. And if you were to make proper modification to all of your ships, it would ground your fleet for several months. If you were to make a new design, i’m sure it could be integrated without change, but right now, I just don’t see it, not without cutting the ships open and making a radical upgrade.”

Another of the AI’s stepped up on the other side of the Engineer. ENG #3 pointed towards the wiring. “We could install heatsinks every few meters to combat the over heating.” It said frankly. ENG #2 spoke up then “The Council wouldn’t alter new ships. This technology will be exclusive for the new ships being designed. Since the meeting of our races, we have been rethinking our ships design.” 

The other two engineers were quiet as they continued their work. The first Engineer spoke up, he was mostly orange with a black face. “I believe that these older shields wills suit the needs of the navy fine. It will take several minutes for us to even start breaking down your schematics before we can rebuild them. We’ve only been allocated so much resources for the prototype ship, and anything more complex will be over the supposed resource limit.” ENG #1 said matter of factly.