[b]VALKIAN[/b] --- The Engineer and the Hunter grew more and more worried, growing more and more erratic. If the Tinkerer died while in conference with the Nouvellians, it would permanently hurt relations with them- to the point of revoking what the Tinkerer had accomplished, all but the basic protection that was promised. Might even hurt it to the point of Valkians moving in to take the innermost planets of the system, and to construct cloudscoops in the gas giant. But they hadn't feared- shortly after the nanobots entered the body, and were brutally crushed by both the higher pressure of the bloodstreams inside, and the slightly acidic properties of the blood itself, the Valkian awoke, staring at Queen Sabine, directly ahead of him across the table. He blinked, and then looked surprised, as if he didn't know he'd do it automatically. He warily, carefully, looked about the room, taking in the sights. A headache rapidly grew, processing both mental imaging, and actual images and colors. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, an arm coming up to rub his forehead, then he rubbed what was more or less his temples. After a few moments, I said, "My apologies. The All-Mother seems both fond of me, and of giving no warning to her miracles. Do forgive my dramatic scene; I was too shocked to stay conscious. Where were we?" --- [b]DRACONIAN[/b] --- [b]Sol, Kuiper Belt[/b] The Draconian Fleet Admiral aboard the Battleship X was quite surprised when the navigation console pinged, and its Draconian officer called, "Admiral, message from the native inhabitants. Looping it to the mainscreen now." A moment later, it flashed up on the centermost screen in CIC, or Combat Information Center, and he knew that the same was happening on the bridge, where the ship captain resided with an identical layout. The foreign script appeared, and the Draconians in the room took a moment to study it. The Admiral was intrigued, and he immediately ordered it to be sent down to the combat analysis team for translation. The Admiral decided to do nothing until they had gotten it translated, and so several hours went by before he received another ping from his navigations officer. "Sir, rough translation received. Applying to the mainscreen," and it reappeared in Draconian text. The Admiral quickly read it, and reconsidered his options. Yes, he wanted to fight them, quite badly, but they may be too powerful for them at the moment, at least for now. A plan formulated in his mind, one that would work both ways. He sent off a stealthed Cirrus to take a message back to the system in the other Terran system, and proceeded to the next bit. "Navigation," he rumbled, "Open up a message with the U-T-F. Tell them we will come forward for a meeting with their leaders- people of power, not people of negotiation. Tell them that we will bring forward our entire fleet, and we will remain wary. And then tell the good Captain to advance forward, and include, say... the [i]Dauntless[/i], the [i]Black Bullet[/i], the [i]Dragon[/i], and our personal fleet. They move forward in formation around us." Outside, the Battleship X's massive bulk shuddered as its engines came alight, active sensors coming online and routinely sweeping space for contacts. Three Cirruses fell in close around the Battleship, with a dozen Destroyers moving in around the Battleship, two Sleipnirs trailing behind, ready to launch fighters to combine with the Battleship's own fighter squadrons. The Novas began to line up, not very close together, still separated by a kilometer or more, but were ready to target anything the Battleship beamed or ordered. Hidden, hopefully unseen. They were all powered down nearly as far as they could go, with only the minimum life support and the majority of the crew in stasis. Dangerous if they decided to attack, but orders are orders. The only ships that weren't powered down and trying to hide were the Sleipnirs. Appearing for all the world as transports or freighters, which they were, in addition to being carriers, they moved about in mock-fleets, flashing each other with active sensors as if they were laser cannons. Their manuevers were clearly not military, novice tactics, something that any soldier could say that are most likely just harmless, or foolhardy. That was what they were supposed to appear; harmless, goofy. They flew about in and around each other, randomly switching sides or going out on their own. A couple neared asteroids, a single one moving close to a mining ship clinging on the nearest, flashing it with active sensors as it flew past, rolling. Each time they flashed each other with active sensors, it was not only a mock-cannon, but also a burst of data. The fleet of Sleipnirs were systematically mapping the entire system while making it seem like misses, fake 'explosions' with their sensors, and dramatic lock-on sequences. Every now and then, a single Sleipnir would 'miss', and strike the Battleship's hull instead, and burst the data over to it in a moment. They wanted to appear all for the world a small military fleet guarding a bunch of loony ship captains who knew how to fly, but didn't care for order and wanted to have fun.