[h2]Ospea System, Cormyrean Confederation[/h2] It was quiet on the observation deck as Ka'rah'li looked out at the stars of this foreign system. The ships of the delegation carrying Ch'ak's ambassador to the Cormyrean Confederation was identical to that sent to the Sol Federation, though in this case Ambassador Ka'rah'li had had the bar and tables removed from her ship's main observation deck. Instead, it was completely bare aside from an ornate rug. A rug which the Ambassador, an older T'kai, was currently sitting on and meditating. They sat in complete silence, as they thought on the events were to come. Their position as ambassador was important; from what little they knew of the Confederation is was most compatible with the Ch'ak'ii both politically and culturally. They would likely get along rather well, and of the two diplomatic missions Ka'rah'li was certain that it was the more important of the two. After all, they had been sent along while the Hyu'min had to deal with some young Uy woman Ka'rah'li knew had far less experience. Ka'rah'li, on the other hand, had decades of experience dealing with those few minor races closer to Ch'ak. And because it was so important Ka'rah'li had absolutely no desire to make any mistakes, for even the slightest could spell disaster when it came to dealing with a mostly unknown alien race. However, the Ambassador's meditation was interrupted by one of the ship's crewmen opening the door. They simply turned to look at the crewmember, saying nothing. They had specifically said that they were not to be interrupted under any circumstances unless it was an emergency or native ships appeared to be moving towards their position or attempting contact. The small warships' sensors had picked up a fair bit of traffic from the worlds closer in, and as such had sent out diplomatic messages. So as to make sure there were no possible misunderstandings from a strange message from strange ships in a strange language, Ka'rah'li had also determined it prudent to send along the visual message the diplomatic ships came with. It was quite simple; footage of peaceful negotiations from Ch'ak's past, some so old it was practically ancient and archival, but it was hoped that their peaceful intentions would come across from the get go. But that brought Ka'rah'li back to the crewmember poking his head in through the door. If it was important, he'd open his mouth and if it wasn't he'd duck back out again. "Uh, Ambassador?" the man said, seemingly discomforted by Ka'rah'li's silent stare. They didn't answer back, and simply continued to stare. "Well, Ambassador Ka'rah'li, the Captain told me to inform you that we believe Confederation ships appear to have noticed the delegation." "Tell the Captain I will be up shortly," Ka'rah'li replied simply. The man quickly scampered out, leaving the Ambassador alone once again looking at the stars. It was a pain, but as she was the Ambassador she'd be on the bridge in case they needed to respond in any way. After all, the Captain was just that, a Captain. Dealing with alien species on a political level was not his specialty. ------ [h2]Val'kik System, Cha'ak Claimed Space[/h2] Overseer Tomosh sat quite comfortably in the command center of his ship. Well, it technically wasn't [i]his[/i] ship but he was the one in charge of Worldeater operations in Val'kik. Or rather he would be once the first ships arrived and unpacked their Worldeaters, since only the largest Worldeaters had jump drives. Worldeaters were technically ships since they could move, but truthfully they were more massive complexes with engines strapped to them. But that didn't really matter, since they had ships of the Grand Fleet to patrol and protect them. And since this was the first wave to arrive in-system they had a larger complement: a small fleet of a pair of Kae'resh-Classes supported by nearly a dozen small warships of various classes. It was for protection; in case any pirates had set up shop since the last scouting mission. But as soon as Tomosh's ships entered regular space at the edge of the system, slightly behind the small fleet, they received an urgent message from Admiral Da'ran. "Overseer, Captain, I need to both of you to turn around and prep your jump drives," came the voice of the Admiral, "[i]Now.[/i]" "Are you kidding me?" Tomosh said incredulously, "We just got here!" "This is not up for discussion Overseer," the Admiral replied, "Do you understand Captain?" The Captain nodded his head as he was staring at a display, before realizing the Admiral couldn't see him, "Of course, sir." "What?!" Tomosh said, "How can yo-" "Overseer, now is not the time. Sensors are picking up something." At that the Overseer stopped his protests as the Captain began the maneuvers. "Is it pirates?" "Dunno," the Captain replied, "Maybe". --- "I don't think we're dealing with simple pirates here," Admiral Da'ran said to one of the crewmen on his Kae'resh-Class, the [i]Abiy Gaa'za[/i], "There's too much here, and if it was all their ships would be making a beeline for us or fleeing for their lives." The crewman nodded his head, and returned to his attention to his console. Admiral Da'ran, an Uy who had served with distinction for decades in the Grand Fleet and was getting on in years, stood silently in the bridge of the [i]Abiy Gaa'za[/i] looking at the holographic display. He wasn't lying, there was far too much for a pirate haven and he didn't recognize what he saw on the scanners. But if it wasn't pirates, then who could it be? He had to keep the Worldeaters safe, which was why he'd ordered them to prep their hyperdrives; if violence broke out they could quickly jump to safety. And once they were safe, he and his men would be able to jump out as well. But first they needed to at least try to find out who these people were, and why they were here. And to that effect, the he sent out a message on all channels. "Attention unknowns, this is Admiral Da'ran of the Grand Fleet of Ch'ak speaking. This system, designation Val'kik, has been claimed by the Ch'ak'ii state for the purposes of mining and resource extraction and your presence here is in violation of our sovereign territory. Please, identify yourself."