[h1]Seven days later[/h1]
[b][u]Narix National Newscast[/u][/b]
[i][u]Councilor Nyxeris Anya: A step over the horizon[/u][/i]
“Almost two hundred and thirty years ago, we refused to stop at the horizon. For the first time since the Great Purge of six hundred and thirty eight, we banded together and reached for the stars.
Over one hundred and seventy years ago, Ramses Verrikan refused to be held back by infighting and rivalry and took action, spreading conflict in order to bring peace.
These events lead up to this day. 7 days ago, we refused to stop at the edge of our system, as elements of the 5th fleet under the leadership of Primarch Carthus Ascari, traversed the uncharted subspace corridor. Prepared to face hardships and peril, they took upon this dangerous duty, for the betterment of every man, woman and child, from the most renowned of scientists to the lowest of exiles. Bolstered by unity, they refused to stop at the horizon. Undeterred by danger, they walked the stars.”

[i][u]Declassified: First contact![/u][/i]
“7 days ago at 3120 hours, system time, the NSS Latanos made contact with an alien warship! The cruiser-sized vessel, designated the EC Curious, was a part of a fleet consisting of it and several smaller vessels, likely frigates and corvettes. Our men located this fleet and the Latanos herself set out to investigate.
Upon meeting the lone alien cruiser, sixteen brave men and two pilots, lead by none other than Primarch Ascari himself, embarked upon a dangerous expedition to the unknown vessel, the Primarch being the first to step off the Pillager to negotiate peace with the aliens or give his men time to flee should the unknowns turn hostile.”

[i][u]Peace brokered[/u][/i]
“Despite initial difficulties, Primarch Ascari managed to broker a peaceful relationship between this new species, calling themselves the ‘Exiles of Faira’ or ‘Faira’ for short, and ours!
In light of this, the council has dispatched the NSS Alchemist, a Discovery-class science vessel, to act as a common ground for the meeting of our two species along with the Faira’Hexus, an Exile diplomatic vessel. Our ambassadors will continue meeting until a lasting peace is secured. The details of the interim peace treaty will be made available to the public shortly.
Over one hundred and seventy years ago, Ramses Verrikan united our kind to strengthen it. Today, we unite with the Exiles of Faira to strengthen both our races.
[hr][b][u]Present day, Opportunity System, NSS Alchemist[/u][/b]
The Alchemist was an odd-looking boat. A fresh coat of paint indicated good maintenance, but the exposed tubing running along the narrow corridors and gravity generators placed wherever they managed to fit them betrayed its advanced age. The halls were painted light gray with two rows of green lights running along the floor and orange ambient lighting. Being a civilian vessel from a pre-artificial gravity age, the docking port was located on the ceiling of the main corridor, separated from the rest of the ship by a simple door on each side. As the Alchemist approached the Faira’Hexus to dock, Runa made her way to the airlock to greet the Faira delegates.

[b][u]Faira’Hexus; Conference room[/u][/b]
Fresh out of a tour to the Nebula, the delegation composed of Astra, Libra and admiral Cygnus. Armed with instructions decided in a sitting of the Assembly of Admirals, they were on a mission: Secure the peace and a trading pact, and with a list of things to bargain with. The Narix so far turned out to be ok people, but sharing cultural data and trading things that could potentially be used against you were different things. Hence why the rest of them were tagging along with Libra - Astra to provide and verify the worth of technologies, and Cygnus to be the bad cop to make sure the Faira were not getting screwed.

The Alchemist approached, and while the Faira ships were utilitarian in nature, even those looked less kitbashed than what was approaching the colony ship. “Is that safe?” Astra inquired. Cygnus snorted in return: “We might be revealing that we are almost extinct today, what is safe in this universe, really?” The ships kissed relatively gently, and the three Faira translated the airlocks, easily navigating the zero-g environment, speaking of their experience with it.

The Faira delegates entered the ship without any problems, providing further proof of Libra’s claims of a spacebound species. “Welcome aboard the Alchemist. No trouble along the way?” Runa greeted their guests as the gravity reengaged after a four-second warning. “If you would please follow me to the meeting room, the others are waiting for us.”

She led the group into the conference room situated in the aft section of the starboard module. The rectangular room contained a hexagonal table with six seats and a cluster of flatscreens suspended from the ceiling. The gravity in that room was lowered to match the Faira ships. “Please, take your seats.” she gestured to three empty chairs on one side of the table and stood at her place between two other Narix. “These are Primarch Ascari and minister Ertanax, representing the military and technological sides of things respectively.

Having the gravity adjusted to their standard was a considerate gesture, and Libra was once more glad for her many sittings with Runa Taranis to smooth everything over. If the delightful personalities of Cygnus and Astra won’t ruin this meeting, nothing should. And Libra took care to notify her companions that one should refrain from commenting on the level of Narix technology, and reminded the other to just glare coldly most of the time.

Already her guidance was bearing fruit, as Astra stared at the flatscreens - without so much as a beep. The trio took their seats. “Thank you, ambassador. Good to see you again in good health, primarch. Minister Ertanax, we are honored to meet you. I am rear admiral Libra, ambassador to the Exiles of Faira. On my right is admiral Cygnus, commander of the Vanguard fleet, and on my left commander Astra, here to provide technical expertise.”

As the introductions were made, the lead Faira switched into business mode. “I am certain all of us have a busy schedule, so shall we get to the root of things? The Exiles propose we draft a non-aggression pact to ensure safe passage to any of our vessels. The ambassador and I have already taken steps to ensure that between our military branches. We would however prefer to have an official document to be issued to civilian population as well.”

The meeting started as expected, that was a good sign. “Certainly.” Minister Ertanax started, “With the information kindly provided, we were able to devise a simple program to recognise your IFF. We’ve also modified one of our outdated data transfer protocols to convert transmissions from our data format to yours and vice versa to increase achievable speed and security.” A diagram of the conversion process, accompanied by its description appeared on the overhead screens, “These will be distributed to all our ships and provided to you after this document is ratified.”

“That being said, we suggest this system be treated as a neutral one with minimal military presence, save for forces guarding the jump points leading to our respective territories and transit into space that lies beyond Opportunity.” Runa continued. “Another thing to consider are mining rights and exploration. As this system does not have much to offer, we will have to share what little there is.”

“I’ll have it distributed among the fleets as soon as the protocol passes qualification tests.” Cygnus agreed readily. Libra then addressed the issue of Opportunity: “ As there appears to be no habitable body in the system for either of our species, it would seem logical to explore it together to see what it is it actually has to offer. Commander?”

Taking the cue, Astra summoned one of primarch’s favorite holoscreens, displaying a bilingual version of one table: The preliminary results of Vanguard’s scanning. “Here you can see the results of scans of the planetary bodies and asteroids in Opportunity as conducted by elements of the Vanguard fleet and the Faira’Hexus in the last week. Given our differing technological bases, we suggest for the Faira to be given mining rights to the asteroids, while the Narix could mine the planets.”

“Councilor Nyx has also suggested joint exploration, not just of Opportunity, but of other systems as well. Not only would such operations build more figurative bridges between our species, your assistance would make potential first contact go smoother due to your ability to learn alien languages so quickly.” The Primarch agreed.

Neither of the three Narix was thrilled at the idea of planetary mining at first, as it presented additional logistical problems in handling heavy things due to gravity, atmospheric pressure and worst of all, getting the materials up to the orbit. That meant more fuel, ships and heavy equipment would be required. On the other hand, the planets held an exponentially greater amount of resources and if they could get some processing plants going planetside, it would, after this initial investment, turn profitable. After a short, barely audible debate, Minister Ertanax spoke up.

“That issue is settled, then. The council has also expressed the desire to trade technologies. For now, they are most interested in your suits and how they compare to ours. Would you be willing to part with a few units, and if so, for what price?

“I’ll have peace on those terms,” Cygnus agreed, “It would be a welcome relief to have more ships on hand just for survey speed, not to talk about defense if someone out there was less understanding and civilized than our two species. We have already identified what could be a third jump node out of Opportunity. What kind of force would you be sending through?”

Astra took over to address the the proposed technology trade. “What you ask for is certainly possible, but I question the usability of our suits to you, as their systems are tailored to our physiology, most importantly the control systems. What you would be getting is a heap of armor plating and miniaturized motorics components. Instead, I would propose to you to send scientists of the required fields to the Faira’Hexus, where we could work to adapt several prototypes to your species and your technological base, which you could then more readily produce yourselves.”

“As for what we would want… Our shipbuilding capabilities in the present are somewhat limited, and we can not even use up the resources we are producing. We would like to purchase building time of your shipyards to construct ship frames for us that we would then tow home to equip.” Libra named the price.

Primarch Ascari took over the word. “That is up for debate. Our initial plan was to move the rest of the 5th Fleet to this system to secure and survey it. I would then take the first and second battlegroups onward. But if we’re joining forces, that will greatly increase the supply demands. That leads me to option number two.” He displayed a 3D model and declassified information about the NFg Privateer. “We send more smaller ships. The Privateer has a smaller crew complement, higher delta velocity and its jump drives are capable of more than five consecutive jumps without suffering any adverse effects. They are tailored for long patrols and AA defense making supplying them easier, but don’t have much to offer against capital ships. Their hangar capacity is also limited. I would be taking the Latanos for that, should it come to it.” he finished.

Minister Ertanax continued the tech talk. “We don’t intend to start using your suits. Rather, we’d like to compare your and our take on them and see where we can learn from you and where we could improve yours. Although your tech level is above ours, a second opinion never hurts.”

“As for the price, what you are asking is certainly possible, but will have to wait until your people are cleared for entry to supervise the construction. We will also have to ensure there are no health hazards, such as illnesses, involved.”

Talking briefly among themselves the three Faira resumed with Libra speaking: “Our ships require little in supply, and what they need they can get by themselves if there is a nebula or a gas giant in the system. Our plan counts on the Vanguard fleet continuing to advance while the Patrol fleet secures the systems behind and provides the logistical support. I am certain Admiral Lira can spend a couple of cruisers to quickly tow your transport ships to where they are needed. As for how to properly secure a system, the commander of you forces, whether it would be you personally, primarch, or someone else, should plan that together with admiral Cygnus at a separate meeting.”

“As for the suits, that can certainly be arranged, we were just worried you were not getting equal value out of this trade. We would like to return to the treaty for now though, until such is signed, i hope you understand, we are reluctant to share in any technology that could potentially but used against us in an armed conflict.”

“Our side would like to include mechanisms for traversing the systems owned by the other party into that s treaty, as well as a mechanism for assigning ownership to the systems we explore together.”

Runa again spoke up. “Assigning ownership of systems could be done based on the natural resources or planets in that system. If a system is rich in materials useless to us but valuable to you, we gain nothing from keeping it and would only stretch ourselves thin by maintaining security. The same could apply for celestial bodies and their habitability.”

“As for traversing systems owned by the other party, I’ll admit we have thought of this, but outside of specific locations, marked by navigation buoys to use as commercial intrasystem jump points, haven’t thought of anything. The issue is further complicated by the differences between your and our coordinate systems, hence the navigational buoys.”

“Speaking of things one party or the other wishes to add.” The Primarch interjected, “Although we are fortunately enjoying a time of lasting peace, your wars are your wars and ours are ours. We adamantly refuse to be dragged into a war we have nothing to do with, and I am sure that isn’t something you want either. Should one of our species be unfortunate enough to be attacked, I believe the other nation would provide help, but we will not support any offensive action unless it is certain beyond any shadow of a doubt the hypothetical third party is a threat.”

“Naturally, Primarch, I believe that is the definition of non-aggression treaty. We would refrain from even mutual defense at this point, sadly. We can not promise to be adequate ally in such endeavor, and we do not believe our kinds know each other enough to entrust the other with such an important task. One day, perhaps. We hope. Hopefully you and admiral Cygnus will be able to bring us closer to that.” Libra said soberly.

“That said, we came up with a similar idea of designating intrasystem highways through our systems for others to freely traverse through.” Astra noted, “We would also like to keep our home system closed off to outside traffic at this time, and are prepared to accept the same condition from you. To address your earlier remark, we are willing to leave the building part entirely to you without our supervision, as long as you use our methods which we would of course free up for your use as well. Once assembled, you could tow them to Opportunity for our receipt.” the scientist said.

Back to Libra, the Faira diplomat sighed. “I am afraid we can not agree to that sort of distribution. What if there is a planet habitable to both of us?” the rear admiral suggested, “Furthermore, the probabilities of the existence of planets habitable to your species is significantly greater than one for us. You would be inherently at an advantage. Instead we would propose ownership of individual planetary bodies, distributed in accordance to habitability for planets and moons, and based on mass for other objects.”

“You will have to send someone to instruct our shipwrights anyway, your building methods will be completely alien to them. The iridium that seems to be prevalent in your ships will also require a slightly different approach to our usual materials.” the minister replied to Astra.

Than it was Runas turn. “We will of course keep our system closed off to general traffic. If for some reason you wanted to visit Naris, you would have to travel aboard a Narix vessel after being granted clearance.”

Than she addressed the ownership issue. “I don’t see many differences between your and our suggested approach. That way, we are still going to end up with more planets, but it creates the problem of keeping order. If ownership is assigned to individual planets, how do we decide who will be tasked with keeping order in the system as a whole? Someone to make sure individuals with privately-owned ships won’t break a no-fly zone or start an illegal mining operation? I realize crime is still a new concept to your people, but sadly, it is something you will have to take into account.”

“The difference is that with ownership over the entire system the Faira would have to license mining rights.” Libra said practically, “And even if the Narix would be so charitable as to allow us to get our share now, we foresee we would have to renew the real with every new administration, or are we wrong in that assumption?”

“Only the people that will be elected to council positions dealing with industry in the future know the answer to that question.” Runa stated plainly. “But we will concede this point. That still leaves the security issues. If both of our species post forces in every system, then based on the speed at which new systems are discovered, we might not be able to secure them at all. A nations inability to maintain order has never lead to anything but unrest and, in the worst cases, collapse.”

“Then we stop growing and increase the size of our forces. It will have to be done sooner or later anyway. What if you can’t find a habitable planet in the first five systems either, will you be able to secure the route all the way to the sixth?” Cygnus asked somewhat rhetorically. “Borders can not grow without the growth of its wardens. I comprehend that you have overpopulation problems, but what measures have you taken to aid the situation in case your expansion failed to solve the issue?” the admiral asked.
“While I would not use as harsh words as the admiral, and I do not presume to tell you how to govern yourselves, the Faira have deployed birth control and other sustainable growth measures. It will not be popular but whatever course of action we decide on, the probability of you not having any other choice is still not insignificant.” Libra said. “There is one other option we could consider… to unite.” she suggested, earning surprised looks even from her side of the table.

Libras words completely stunned the Narix. Runa had to wonder whether other Narix reacted in a similar matter to Ramses Verrikans proposal all those years ago. She was the first one to snap out of the shock and think of a politically correct response. “The problem with that proposal has several layers. Firstly, there is our democratic system. I doubt our people would agree to that. Then there is the vast biological and cultural difference. Is it even possible for our people to exist under one leadership without one species or the other suffering with each new policy adopted?” she asked. “In the end, even we Narix were united by the sword. I dread to think what a war between our peoples would lead to.” She thought of the 42 cruisers of which the Faira have seen two, not to mention the twelve Warlord-class destroyers the Faira still weren’t aware of.

“True, for now it seems undoable, but we are not yet stretched that thin. And our peoples need not adapt the same policies -the unity could be as loose as we prefer - What is necessary is a unified military on the top level of command to patrol the systems, and its mandate to enforce the laws of both species. What policies each other adopts can and probably will be of marginal interest to the other species. The economical side would be slightly trickier to negotiate, but as I said, there is time. It should be at least considered.” The Faira approached the topic carefully.

“For now though, maybe we shall take it one system at a time. We decided on what to do with Opportunity. Let’s let it work for some time, and then we will see if the system can be revised and adapted to the others?”

Astra chimed in: “Yes, I imagine that we will lack sufficient shipping capacity to cover the entirety of this asteroid belt, and you I assume can use aid in transporting goods off-planet. I think it would be much easier to run both operations jointly. If we do that, plus the mutual exploration, It would give us an idea if a unity as such could work.”

Cygnus had her own idea to add. “If that was to be, the first condition is for our security forces to be able to work together. Primarch, would you be willing to engage in an officer exchange program? We found out that exchanging staff between our fleets greatly expands their tactical capabilities. Perhaps this way we could find out if our militaries can even find a mutual doctrine to work together?”

“The problem with getting materials off the planet is the fuel to capacity ratio.” Minister Ertanax finally recovered from Libra’s suggestion, “The most readily available surface to orbit craft we have is the Pillager, and its cargo capacity and maximum takeoff weight are quite limited, even taking into account different gravity and atmosphere. Where we could be helpful, is the asteroid belt operation.” he summoned another schematic onto the screens, this time a boxy freighter. “Though it’s just a box with engines and a gyroscope, we still have large numbers of these. Even if it would be the last thing these ships ever do, it is what we designed them for.”

The Primarch than addressed Cygnus’ suggestion. “While the idea has crossed my mind, I wasn’t sure whether you’d be willing to go along with the plan. As stated earlier, our species have vastly different needs. Prolonged exposure to lower gravity would cause temporal degradation of our bones, potentially even eyesight. We also need several hours of sleep every day and daily food and water supply to function. You on the other hand I assume would suffer due to a lower oxygen percentage, higher gravity and maybe more we don’t yet realize.”

“When it comes to our side, our gravity generation technology allows for precise control over gravity, so we could lower that in accommodations dedicated to Faira crewmen, that problem we could rectify. It is once more the increased and specific supply demand our crewmen would put on your logistics that worries me. Not sure if Admiral Libra has come across this in her discussions with Ambassador Taranis, but we are strictly carnivorous species. If despite all of this you’d be willing to go through with this, we’d be more than happy to take part in such a project. Perhaps a trial run on one ship of each species to test if the idea is feasible?”

“Why not use a short FTL jump to get the ship into orbit then?” Astra inquired of the minister. That was one area they somehow managed to omit from the discussion - Obviously, the Narix used the same jump nodes to travel as the Faira, yet possessed no connection to Mindspace. Perhaps learning the principles behind their drives would allow the Faira to understand their own abilities a little better?

“Higher gravity, while annoying to some degree, does not have any lasting effect on us. It does seem like it would be infinitely easier for Faira to serve aboard Narix ships, but we can just as well increase the gravity on our own. Since the two fleets would operate together for now, supplying a few Narix on board can be done easily enough from your ships with a psychokinetic specializing in personal transport. And we should be able to install the necessary facilities within a week provided you specify what is needed. And do not concern yourself with the atmosphere on our behalf - it serves merely to cool us down. Nothing more.” The scientist continued to explain.

 “We haven’t been able to open a stable subspace window in atmosphere, at least not on Naris. Even if we could, none of our transport craft posses a jump drive. Despite its smaller size, such drive would still require massive amounts of power compared to what ships like the Pillager can produce, not to mention mounting the drive would further increase its mass and decrease cargo space, leading to even more fuel required to transport smaller volume of cargo.” Ertanax explained. Although the Narix had a heavier version of the Pillager in development, the one of the prototypes had burned down a few weeks before the 5th fleet set out, and even this new ship wasn’t equipped with a jump drive.

“As for the officer exchange program, what you say sounds logistically possible.” he continued, “We’ll have a list of necessary facilities delivered to you within the next 32 hours.”

“Very well.” Cygnus agreed. Astra was about to get back to the earlier issue, however Libra stopped her before she could suggest that the load itself be jumped into an orbiting ship via mindspace. No need to reveal that particular ability just yet. “Back on the matter at hand, I’ll ask you to give the idea of joining our nations in however loose a group to your legislative body to think over. It will not happen over a cycle anyway.” she said.

“But, I think we can both agree that we would be stronger and more prepared to meet whatever is out there if we could share everything we have and know, and our side conditions that with a stronger bonding between our nations. Your people, while vastly different than ours, have also turned out to be peaceful and on most things agreeable. It is not an offer we would (have?) extend to everyone. It is our hope that one day, it may come to pass.” she ended.

“We will of course let our leaders know of this proposal, but the main question is the public opinion of it. In the end, that is what will decide. The only thing we can do is sell it as best as we can.” A voice in the back of Runas mind reminded her of the many camps contact with the Faira created among the general population, from ‘let’s unite’ through ‘let’s unite by force’ to ‘let’s wipe them from existence’. The upcoming referendums and subsequent elections would be interesting.

“And what exactly do you think is out there, Admiral? Our people have been listening to the skies, so to speak, for quite a while now, and while there is no doubt there are other species out there, we haven’t detected any signs of life until the Curious and her lance several days ago. That makes me ask: Have you discovered any signs of other species before us?”

“We have. We do not know whether they are still among us, we have only found debris. And even what we found is enough to frighten us.” Libra said simply.

That was new, and something the council would have to be made aware of as soon as possible. Maybe the First Fleet wasn’t such a waste of resources, as some have called it, after all.
“And just how old were those debris? Thousands of years? Millions? Billions? And if they were, say, 500 000 years old and slightly below our level, is it even possible, assuming the species still exists, to be prepared for something like that?” The Primarch asked. “We have gone from chainmail armor to powered exosuits in under two thousand years. I cannot imagine a force available to us that would stop them should they want to harm us. And that’s assuming only one such species exists. What could help is if you hauled some of the debris here. If you want to, as you say, strengthen the bonds between our nations, why not start with joint research, in addition to joint military operations?”

“Everything we have and know, Primarch, Ambassador. Make sure your leaders understand the meaning of it.” Cygnus closed off, not about to give something that could potentially be used against them to someone they were not strongly allied to, and not about to say at all that what they found was not debris but a slumbering warship, and that it perished along with the rest of their home system. “Patrol fleet is ready to transit the node into Opportunity, I must return to my ship and prepare the fleet to go into what lies beyond. Commander, you have your ship to attend to. Rear admiral, the Faira’Capra is ready to jump as soon as there is an official ruling on the mining. Primarch, minister, ambassador, please excuse us.” the admiral said, and Astra and Cygnus got up, turned around, walked a few paces and then vanished in a storm of white and red, something only the Primarch has seen previously.

“Just me, or is this their way of slamming the door shut behind them on their way out?” the Primarch asked pointing to where the two Faira disappeared. “But sadly, Admiral Cygnus is right, there are still things that need to be done. Until we meet again, may the stars guide your way.” Carthus stood up and left the room wia more conventional means.

Runa took over the word. “So, let us recap: As far as mining is concerned, all we have to do is write down what we’ve agreed on and wait for our respective ruling bodies to sign. On the note of passing through the system, we just have to wait for the IFF and communication protocol to pass tests and make adjustments to it if necessary. This will also allow for easier cooperation between your Vanguard Fleet and our Fifth Fleet in exploring the systems beyond this one. Hammering out the details of this and the proposed officer exchange program will mainly be up to Primarch Ascari and Admiral Cygnus. As discussed earlier, you are offering processed resources plus examples of your equipment, in this case your suits, in exchange for construction time and manpower in our shipyards. I will contact you as soon as we hear back from home regarding your proposal to unite our species. Did I forget anything?”

“I think that is pretty much everything.” Libra agreed, “Is there anything you would like to add? On or off the record.” Libra offered, the fact that she was not exactly happy with the way she had to handle this assignment plain on her face. To keep what they knew about the threats of the universe… was an atrocious course of action to the rear admiral, even if she condoned on the small deception of what was truly found on their homeworld.

‘Off the record’ was a funny thought to Runa, given that she recorded everything, even their previous sittings. She thought it was obvious, but perhaps the Faira didn’t think of it? The Rear Admiral seemed to adopt a different facial expression, but Runa had no idea what that expression was. “Only that I hope Admiral Cygnus and Primarch Ascari can get along at least on a professional level.” Neither of the local military commanders seemed particularly social existences to her.