[b]Nouvelle[/b]
The Valkian, flanked by his Engineer and Hunter, followed along politely, listening passively and taking in everything in the newcomer's shuttle. Quietly, he and the Engineer began to discuss the technology used in the 'Eternal Union' shuttle, noting no apparent generator, and an unfamiliar conduit for unfamiliar energies, as well as the workings of the weapons. They were not affected by the winged peoples' magic; their mind had an entirely different way of processing everything, and without understanding that, it'd be like plugging in a USB cord into a wall plug. Instead, they watched quizzically as the people around them calmed and cooled. The Hunter grew nervous; his blades extended out again, wary and fearful of a creature that manipulates the emotions of the crowds. Such a tool is powerful, he knew, for one could enforce whatever policy or rule they wanted, and no one would even [i]want[/i] to stand against them.

With this in mind, all three Valkians stood weary, recognizing the new race as a dangerous one, especially so since the first thing they did was subdue to crowd. Better for manipulating, better to receive whatever they said, the Tinkerer thought.

In response to the bowing, the Tinkerer quickly caught on and bowed back, though awkward and not nearly as low or practiced. Then, he 'waved' to his fellow Valkians, which was more of a twitch of a hand, and they followed along with the guards. Each time any of the guards looked back at them, the Tinkerer would somehow catch their eyes, and 'stare' into theirs, tilting their head slightly in question. Each time, the guards would feel very, very uncomfortable; looking into their eyes, it felt as if they were staring into an empty void, darker than space. It was, in part, true, since they did not see through their eyes, and they had simply hardened and grown darker.

Some few minutes later after a good bit of walking and the occasional unruly child poking their legs from the curious crowd, they reached the palace, and entered, weaving through the hallways to their rooms. They could see the human visitors; they were distinct enough to know that they didn't originate here.

[b]Uncharted Space: The Etherals[/b]
[u]Battle for System Three________________________________[/u]
Faced with unknown warheads, the Explorer's Tinkerer captain screamed some orders. The second time the particle cannon fired, it was at the closest, most direct unknown warheads. Successfully intercepting and destroying one, and probably saving one of the two particle cannons, the Explorer took hits. Three other warheads impacted the ship: because of the angle at which they fired, and the angle and thickness of the armor, the primary explosive blast did not truly penetrate. The armor was torn and scarred, but hull was not breached. Meanwhile, before the enemy ship fired again, it lashed out with four full salvos of Swarmer missiles again, and then charged up another particle beam blast.

The Varren, on the other hand, was torn between what to do. It could engage the other ship, or assist its brethren. Coming to a decision, it angled so that all ten of its dual railgun turrets could fire on the target. Its silhouette was about as small as it possibly could; it was at about 76 degrees parallel to its target, 25 degrees going 'down.' Just enough to fire all the topside cannons.

Abruptly, without warning, it fired a full barrage of 20 slugs, each one designed to have the first half penetrate, and the second half explode just afterwards. If it misses its target, despite its mid-flight retargeting systems, which performs minor direction change to better hit targets at distance, then it'll explode as close as it can, in hopes of doing damage. Surprisingly refined for a defensive-centered nation, but they wanted to make sure that they could kill anything.

Where the Explorer could get in close with enemy ships, and even ran them, the Varren can keep its distance and launch powerful barrages. They were like an asteroid storm to an unarmored ship.

[b]N-1-A[/b]
[u]Warfleet Assemble Site________________________________[/u]
Three more Varrens had recently come out of a 'port, moving into orbit around Planet N-1 until they were in optimum position to change to the first moon's gravity well, where they hug close over the surface, great rings that go all the way around the small moon reaching out and connecting to a single ship, refueling it while it was in orbit. It was an inguenius design that had one primary purpose: Refuel ships meant for war. It was expensive and a tricky construct, too finicky for regular use. For this, though, they wanted all warships ready to fight. Another Explorer warped in to accompany the other, completing the much-delayed warfleet that had actually been disassembled in favor of expansion, and then reassembled. The Convergence ships remained silent; the pair they sent to investigate had yet to emerge, and for the moment, they were worried, but calm enough.

They saw the large hiveships as a minor threat, and the one nesting on one of their moons, the third or fourth. No one made a move, and they were content to wait until cargoships arrived bringing freshly-constructed Defense Satellites and crews to man the Command Stations. Every planet had Command Stations; only the heavily populated worlds had Defense stations, and only the innermost, most important planets have asteroid-fortresses in orbit.

The Governor that made decisions for the planet was really quite happy to be elevated to such a status of importance, despite being the gathering point for warships, enemy ships, hivemind ships, and the site of two nuclear detonations in order to destroy possible foreign parasites.