//Saraphim Space//
With a slight crackle of energy the Hidden Hand translated out of the Pathway and into Saraphim space. The small corvette took only a slight moment to orient itself on target before it's engines roared to life, propelling it forward and away from the Pathway's gate, also leaving a small box like satellite that began a slow rotation as it stayed relatively close to the Pathway gate. Soon a planet came into view, as well as a battle group of ships. Inside the bridge the ship master clenched his teeth and slightly altered the approach pattern, bringing the small ship into a slingshot trajectory around the moon, keeping it hidden from sight from the landing ships. As the Hand rounded the moon its true target, a battle torn city on the cusp of the night side of the planet. Turning over itself the Corvette dived into the atmosphere, a resounding boom echoing from it's entry. Almost as soon as it had entered it began to pull up turning towards part of the city that was not far from the frontlines, but far enough that it was safe. As it passed over five small pods detached themselves from the underside of the ship, which broke contact and brought itself out of the atmosphere. The pods fell like falling stars, streaks of light in the darkening sky. As they neared the ground large plates began to sheer slightly off of the pods, acting like airbrakes, and small retro thrusters fired up slowing them even further. The result was a hard but survivable landing in what was once probably a city park, that now lays quiet with only the echos of far off battle being the parks only inhabitance. With a hiss each pod opened to reveal their own occupants. Five figures, all clad in customized Darkheart armor slowly emerged from the pods to regain some stability in their legs after the drop. After a brief moment one of the figures, who's mask was etched with a Cheshire grin, raised raised their right hand and made a few quick gestures. A silent knowing passed through the rest of the squad who retrieved their weapons from the pods and formed up on the commander. Slowly they moved away from their LZ into the city, making sure to take backstreets and to stick to the shadows to avoid detection from militia patrols. At near to midnight they reached their destination, the base of Angelo. Slowly they began to make their way around the complex looking for a good entry point, and found one in the form of a drowsy guard, slowly creeping up to him one of the armored figure reached out and seized his nose and mouth, speeding along the sleeping procedure, albeit slightly more aggressively. The squad made its way in, using their "sight" to see any guards before they were even aware of the figures. Finally after some time and a bit of cat and mouse they made it to their destination, the section of wall below Angelo's window. A few more hand gestures and silent words from the commander and the squad readied themselves, two takeing position at the base of the wall and another backing up a matte brown cylinder in hand. Running forward the one with the cylinder was launched upwards by the the two at the bottom of the wall. Reaching out the figure seized the window sill and plased the cylinder right beneath it. With a slight thump the cylinder drove a piton into the wall as well as a few support claws that flicked out from the sides. A length of cable fell from the back of the cylinder as the first figure silently climbed into the room, each figure using the piton/cable to follow suit. What they found inside was a a bedroom, a decently sized bed with nightstands, a table with chairs and a couple dressers and mirrors. Angelo himself was in the room, staying up pouring over some maps of the city. The commander motioned to the squad, each keeping their weapons in a passive stance, and moved forward slowly. When they were about 6 feet away they dropped to one knee and bent their head "Rightful heir Angelo of the Saraphim sire. We have come to deliver you a communication." the voice was soft and feminine, obviously not trying to startle him too much.
While the once beautiful city now war torn and bruised from the conflict the milita was everywhere taking patrols and they did not notice the new comers and if they did it was only a glimpse of them. When Angelo heard the feminine voice talk to him Angelo first thought was to grab his sword but when she called him the rightful heir and say she was here to convey a message Angelo put a hand on his sword before saying if you wanted to speak to me then you could have simply told the guards that you were here for a peaceful talk. Unlike my brothers I will not kill those that come to speak on the matter of negotiations. What is your message he said turning to the group and although not attaching them or calling the guards he kept his hand on his sword
The commander reached to her belt, retrieving a small pyramidal device. Placing on the ground in front of her the device began to open slowly revealing a complex matrix of emitters and receivers. With a small whrr the emitters began to activate, at first only a static sound could be heard as a hologram formed above it, bus as it linked with the Hand's own communications in orbit the image stabilized and the static stopped. The image of Prelate Veicc formed out of the slightly red tinted hologram "Greetings Heir Angelo of the Saraphims, I greet you on behalf of the Dominion as an equal. I apologize for the secrecy of this meeting, but certain factors have forced us to keep our interest in this matter hidden for now. As for why we are here know that we simply wish to help you end this conflict, not to conquer but to put and end to the madness and suffering. With this I offer you my support and that of the Dominion, both on the field and with the rebuilding after the fact. In return all we wish is to open up negations and trade between us. As you are well aware, you have a very unique element that we wish to investigate further, and in doing so further us both. Also as a token of good will I give you full use of this infiltration team, they have served me very well in the past, and use of the Corvette in orbit, it has been modified as a torpedo ship and for stealth operations. If you have any questions or concerns now would be the time to voice them, the scatterburst transmitter on the Corvette can only operate for so long without compromising their position."
Angelo listened to the hologram and understood that they wanted to help him and end the conflict however Angelo couldn't tell if their intentions were peaceful or so they could lay the ground work to make his planet a puppet nation with them ruling. Angelo would never let that happen and he had to be cautions about how he handled getting their help he couldn't deny the help because he wanted this conflict to end and make sure all the civilians go home to their families in the end but he couldn't afford to be careless in how he will rule when this is over. I understand however I don't believe in their being an uneven deal. I know you will want something in return for this help and I will happy to open up negotiations for our vapor. However I want you to remember that I will not allow another species to dictate how I will run my people. I will rule my people fairly and bring them into cultural glory, if you swear by your gods that you have no intention of controlling my people then I will accept the help and afterward begin a trade route that will make us both stronger in the long run. If you cant agree then I will say no to your help. Angelo said making sure that their term were clear about everything and that this deal wouldn't bite him in the ass down the line...
Veicc smiled and placed his hand on his chest, bowing his head as he spoke "If that is what it takes my fellow sire, then I swear by the fulfilled ones and the sisters that raised us. I swear that we have no intention of creating a puppet or of conquering your space, that our intentions a true and that we only wish to further the both of us." After this he raised his head again to look at Angelo, his expression serious. "I swear to them and to you."
Angelo gave a nod and a smile then placed his sword on the ground stabbing the ground so that the gold hilt was facing upward putting his hand on top of it this is a tradition with my people, when both parties put their hand on the hilt its an agreement to the aid offered is both appreciated and will be used as dictated. As I am the one who is accepting the deal my hand is the first and you being the one who offered it put your hand on it and the deal will be completedAngelo said and although this was an old custom used back in the days of the rebellions of his fathers time he thought their would be no other way then this to make it official in this time of strife...
Veicc grinned "As you wish, so shall it be." His hologram extended its hand to place it on the swords hilt. As he did this the commander rose from her kneeling position and stepped forward extending her left hand, palm up. "My equal, we also have a tradition of new allies, one that can not be done by way of communications like this. Place your hand on the commanders palm up if you would." Veicc extended his own, laying it on a hand that had entered the transmission. "It does not take long, but this is only step one."
Angelo nodded a little and did as he asked putting his hand on the commanders palm up wondering what this would mean by "not done in way of communication"
The commander's hand closed in a vice grip, as did the hand that Veicc had placed his on. Out of the commanders armor came a single Ventri, crawling from the forearm. It rose on it's back legs for a moment as it surveyed the environment around it and began to crawl down the commanders arm and onto Angelo's, continuing up onto the exposed underside of the forearm. In the hologram the same thing was happening to Veicc, who simply stared at the small creature. With a small screech both creatures as if working in tandem across the stars began moveing across the forearm, small scratches and a marking of deep blue being left in their path. They moved quickly, drawing out a symbol on the tissue. The symbol was made up of a straight line, who's middle was bisected by a curved line which was capped by a short horizontal line. The entire symbol was about an inch and a half to two inches long and a third of that wide. After their work was completed, the Ventri returned to their respective hosts who withdrew their hands. "Thus we have marked together, and thus our oaths are made resolute." Veicc said as he turned his own arm towards Angelo the mark clearly visible on his arm. "I am sorry my friend for any discomfort, I now realize I should have warned you beforehand. The scratches they gave should heal quickly, if you wish the Commander can take a look at it for you."
Angelo looked confused when he felt the commanders grip his hand tightly then he saw what may have been a parasite come from the arm and when he said brace himself Angelo flinched and groaned in the pain slightly when he finally got his hand back he gripped his arm slightly. Although Angelo didn't want to speak ill of another's customs at least his was painless and didn't involve some freaky parasite biting him to leave a bunch of scratches ill just make sure to wrap my arm, im just hoping that the....whatever you have isn't poisonous to my kind or this would be a very bad start to ]our friendship Angelo said simply rubbing his arm knowing that they were two completely different species would mean different physiologies and that meant that they would have different tolerances. Their are parasites in the seriphian homeworld of course but those were either really big like a tree or smaller then a feather the big ones could be used as beasts of burden when in war while the small ones were poisonous to certain degrees depending on species but what he just got bit by was as big as his arm and completely different from what Angelo was ever warned about in his studies.
Veicc laughed "Do not worry, they are quite clean creatures, they actually abhor uncleanliness more than some of the more sentient races. As for poison they carry none, and they themselves are not poisonous to any race we have encountered thus far." The hologram flickered slightly "Ah, it seems our time is now at an end. As I said I leave you this team, if you have any questions they will answer, if you need anything done, they will do it. I will keep you informed, but expect support within the week." with that the Prelate bowed slightly and the transmission faded out, leaving the room in its original light. The Commander stepped back slightly as her squad stepped forward, all bowed their heads. "What would you have us do?" came their unanimous question
Angelo sighed softly and once the pain finally stopped he let go of his arm and saw the new symbol bitten on his flesh which apparently marked him as making a vow to his ally. Again painful and disturbing but good to know he wasn't going to die from a poison bug. He turned to the squad and decided to put then to use in doing what they we'd apparently trained to do, sneak. since you could sneak in here with relative ease that's what I'll have you do. My brother Lorenzo is stationed outside the city in a fort, I need all information you can gather in the place and it's defenses
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//Hidden Hand, orbit above Saraphim homeworld//
The shipmaster sighed as he cut off the communications, they had been a bit longer than anticipated and he worried about any of the larger ships getting a fix on their location. Still this was the best time to observe the other ships, especially the landing ships. Slowly gathering as much data as he could without alerting them the shipmaster compiled a report before breaking his current orbit to once again hide the Hand on the far side of the moon. Activating the FTL communications he sent a small scatterburst containing the file before returning to orbit and powering down to minimal standby to further avoid detection.
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//Sele, Prelate's Palace//
Prelate Veicc stepped out of the transmitter ring a slight grin on his face, that had gone better than expected. Looking down at his arm he traced his finger along the dark blue lines, his flesh still slightly raw from the process, but the simple symbol held a meaning far above that of a simple oath. It was said that the same symbol was once used by the sisters to mark those that guarded them, or gave their all for them, and now it marked those linked in purpose and conviction. "The pieces of the great game are now in motion." He thought to himself. Breathing in deeply he banished the grin from his face and turned to step back into the Transmitter Ring. After a few moments the form of Exarch Seri materialized in front of him. "The board is set Exarch, continue preparations and wait my arrival at the Fulfilled's Rest. I want to be able to move within the week." He said, his tone business like. After she bowed and spoke her compliance, Veicc cut the transmission. Leaving the ring he began to walk towards the main hall of the Palace when he was joined by his guards. "Sir, the reinforcements have arrived at the Dminion-Krall Gate and have gone into high alert.", Veicc nodded "Good tell them to keep near the defence platforms and not to make and hostile movements through the gate.". "Sir" the other spoke up, "We have also received word that the unknowns have been spotted in mass numbers at the Saraphim homeworld. This cause Veicc some pause, "Interesting. Get me all the data that has been sent I will reveiw it en-rout to the Rest."
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Summery: The Dominon has given Angelo their support, at first in the form of the elite infultration team and the Hand, but they are amassing a fleet at Fulfilled's Rest (Omega Station) and will be en-route and ready to engage within the week (getting to the world in the next week/post). They have reinforced their boarder with the Krall in preparation for showing their hand in the Seraphim matter and have taken note of the Nur'xal invasion.
((Done in Colab with Jangel, thanks again))
