Gashathi Aldum Ordo
Eternal Gem - Command Deck
Mid-Transfer towards B23-3527KI
The colorful chaos of FTL travel seeped through the large windows on the fron of the bridge. The respiration systems hum silently in the background as they scrbbed the air of carbon-dioxyde. The bridge was mostly empty and dark, apart from the main holographic screen showing some flight details. "ETA +143 minutes". Kindal'Q glanced over at the only other illuminated terminal in the room: his tactical officer was running several checks on their flight data. The Vixar are always cautious and make sure things go their way which is exactly why they make such good officers. But not all races of the galaxy are so noteworthy. Kindal'Q crossed his arm in front of himself and gazed out the window as his thoughts wandered to subjects at hand. In the next 3 hours the Gem will finish it's long intergalactic travel and take positions in orbit around the sun of a system that is rumored to house another Gashathi sanctuary. If his bretheren awake to his arrival, the unification shall commence with haste. His people will once again be free to rule the galaxy that they once owned. Maybe the other three singularities find their itnernal struggles more important that reclaiming the ancient dinasty, but the Aldum Ordo will begin by subjugating this part of the universe. Then, the rest shall follow to tremble in the wake of giants.
"Arrival to shift location in 5 minutes! Core is running at full effiency, all checks are perfect." 2 hours later the bridge looks nothing like before. The room is buzzing with life, and all of the operators have taken their places. Two dozen terminals light up the excited faces of officers ready to end their year long journey through the stars and find soltitude in the image of stellar objects. The Vixar are a race new to space travel and the journey has teaken their toll on them, but they are all eager to explore a new galaxy never before seen. This is a monetous step in their race's history, and the operators can barely hold in their excitement. The voice of the tactical officer cracks as he speaks up and he is forced to clear his throat before speaking up again. "Tunnel superstructure is at 100%, drives are ready for the shift, sensor lens checking for distortions. Fueld rods are stable, energy readings are in the green. We are ready for the shift on your orders sir." The two dozen furry faces look up from their consoles and turn towards the captain in anticipation. Kindal'Q crosses his fingers and rests his chin on them. The timer on the holopad is about to reach 1 minute, the signal point for the shift to begin. He gently nods, and opens his 4 arms wide towards the spectacle of the FTL tunnel. "We are to embrace this galaxy, and it is to embrace us! Initiate the shift!"
A trillion billion atoms moan at the same time as they are suddenly ripped from their reality and then get stuffed back into a new one in the blink of an eye. The shining lights disappear and a much brighter one takes their place. The Gem suddenly materializes deep within the gravity well of a large sun. His subspace anomalies masked by the distortion of the star, it was only a slight blip on the radars for a millionth of a second. The hull cries out in a metallic tone as the gravity pulls on it only to be held back by it's powerful engines.
"Shift succesful! Core is spooling, and the fueld rods are intact. Sensors didin't pick up anything, our track is still hidden." Sighs of relief and happy cheering fills the bridge. Some of the officers end up in each other's arm as they celebrate the end of the long intergalactic travel. But the warning lights quickly quell their joy as they all rush back to their places. Kindal'Q looks at his officers questioningly. "Is the sun causing us any problems?"
"Shields are up, and heatsinks are deployed. The structure of the ship is over 99.9%. The Gem is holding together as intended." The tactial officers speaks up, bringing up a tactical map of teh system on the holodpad. "The sensors have detected multiple unidentified ships in the system. We weren't able to pick them up in transit, but we are getting clear readings on several ships around the planet. We've got chatter on multiple frequencies, running analyzer on them now."
Finding aliens so fast after their arrival was quite the news, however it meant a change of plans. Originally they would have waited for the systems to get ready for an SDD and land on a nearby planet to establish a base of operations, but they couldn't do that with aleins around. This made time an important factor in finding that Gashathi Sanctuary before these races stumble into them. "Sir, we've analyzed the data patterns. They seem to be broadcasts, but the translator matrix indicates that it is more than one language. The ships we picked up on preliminary scans seem to be of different designs which suggests that we are dealing with multiple factions. The translator matrix is running the algorithms right now." Maybe they bumped into a warzone? Or perhaps some kind of rebellion? Whatever it was, this many different sides never leads to succes. Kindal'Q leaned forward in anticipation of the translated broadcast. On the holopad, one by one, the unknown words traded palces with more familiar ones until a clear messages appeared. As if his officer knew what he was thinking about a moment ago he commented on the discovery "It doesn't seem like the broadcast are of hostile intention. It appears as though these factions are just as confused about the situationas us. The primary freqency is broadcasting a looped message declaring their ship as a safe ground for diplomatic negotiations. The second frequency was intercepted from drone that sent a message to the ship."
"Wait, a drone? What would that be doing here?" "It looks like an unmanned vessel, probably remote controlled. Judging from the message, there must be a ship nearby. However, we don't have any further readings in the system." A drone? A ship that is looping a diplomatic message? And what about the other ships they picked up? For the sake of the Gashathi Sanctuary they must indulge in this weird situation. "Reroute power from auxilary combat systems to our optical scanners. If there is anything out there, the sun will help us light it up. And make sure to ping the sector once, the background radiation near the corona SHOULD be enough to mask our presence. Let's see if we can locate these foolish aliens." The oficers nod and began working on their console with utmost concentration. Kindal'Q leaned over to the side and brough up a personal holopad in front of him, dialing the officer down in Hangar 2. "Corey, prepare an escort corvette for immediate departure. Get all avaible wings ready for departure if needed. We'll be down there in a minute."
He gazed back at the window which was now showing a zoomed in image of the "diplomatic vessel". Maybe diplomacy was an option this time. But these inferior beings would not appreciate the fact that they could talk face-to-face with a Gashathi. Maybe blasting their inferior ship to pieces was a better option. But an all out warfare would be hard with only one ship. "Prepare point-to-point communications with UFO 1. Let them know that we are willing to participate in their diplomatic games as long as they disable their guns as a sign of good measure." Kindal'Q stood up from his seat, and straigtened his suit. He conveyed a psychic message to all those in the room to overcome the cacaphony of sounds. "I will be heading to the hangar bay with my personal guards. Tactical Officer Matt will be in command until I come back. Stay hidden with the ship until I come back safe and sound." With that, Kindal'Q stepped into the decklift that will take him directly to hangar bay 2.