Epsilon-Bouchet turned to face the soused Andrei and bowed deeply. "Hello there. We are part of explorator-vessel 1-Alpha-Thirty-Nine." although he pronounced it 'niner,' "dispatched from the planet Zeta-5. I understand that to someone unfamiliar, our modifications might be... Strange." He smiled pleasantly. "We're the same human beings underneath all the metal, I can assure you." He turned towards the scientist, and quietly, under his voice, offered a joking 'I see somebody has been enjoying their time off a lot.' 

[center]| [@Tortoise] |[/center]

Hmm. Communications problems. The Collective's mind set to work. The data that flooded from the planet was gathered and disseminated, linguistic programs roused to life to attempt to crack grammar and vocabulary. For hours, 1-Alpha-Fifty-Five hung in space, seemingly idle. It used the words the planet had sent back and compared their sentence-structure choices, millions of minds attempting to untangle it. Until, at last, four hours after it had started working on the task, the Collective had what they believed to be an approximate pidgin to communicate with. The more they spoke, and the more data from this world they gathered, the more refined the technology would become.

They returned a fresh message towards where they had received the first one. "Will not harm. Desire talk. We land somewhere?" 

[center]| [@ClocktowerEchos] |[/center]

There was a ship entering Zeta's gateway. No sooner had it arrived than a greeting was blasted at it, two ships that had been left on standby for this exact purpose sailing towards it. Zeta did not arm its ships usually, but the Consciousness had decided that there needed to be a certain level of defensiveness when interacting with foreign individuals. Thus, whilst those leaving the Zeta system would not be armed, anyone entering's first sight would be two standard scientific vessels... Retrofitted with several conspicuous missile systems.

[i]Greetings![/i] The message declared. [i]Welcome to the Zeta system! Please, allow our vessels to escort you to our under-construction diplomatic station![/i] It was overly cheery, welcoming and disarming, to help counteract the show of strength. 'Under construction,' too, was a bit of an understatement. Zeta built their stations by fitting together pre-made sub-sections. Of course, this wouldn't do when the station was supposed to fit an entirely new purpose they couldn't just slap old pieces together.

Thus, their current diplomatic vessel was simply a standardised core that had been cleaned out of all research instruments in order to make for a more welcoming environment to guests. Around this core, EVA suits and robotic workers swarmed, putting in plan the Collective vision they shared. Not only would this be their first impressions for many nations, but this would also serve as a testing ground for the Sol system. A diplomatic neutral ground over their old homeworld only made sense, after all.

The guest ship was lead in to this hive of activity, and several of the docking lines were sent across. Their diplomats stood ready, and although their initial interactions with the Earth Cultural Union and the Undefeated had gone poorly, the Consciousness' eagerness to meet new nations had not diminished. Perhaps the third (or fourth, depending on who you asked,) time would be the charm?

[center]| [@Ekreture] |[/center]