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[right][b]THE ARCADIUS // ADMINISTRATION SPACE[/b][/right]

The Arcadius was the pride of the Administration fleet. Over three kilometres long she maintained a fleet of drones ranging from small miners, construction vessels, transports and refineries. It was capable of completing mining operations in atmosphere, orbit or alternatively, it can clear an astroid belt all by itself. It was a recent build, her two sister ships were in production and were planned to be launched within a couple of months. On the command deck, Captain Anders looked over the various consoles below his command station. The men and women that worked aboard his ship worked diligently with purpose, they all had their place and role in the smooth operations and they all understood that. It was a thing of beauty. 

Anders turned as he heard the [url=https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/covers/images/000/976/665/large/sviatoslav-gerasimchuk-droid.jpg?1437424503]footfall of Aide[/url] coming towards him. "Good evening Captain, I have taken logs from all my other Aides aboard and can report that efficiency is 25% over expected levels. I have logged this and sent the report on to the board. They're very happy." The robot gave him the thumbs up.

Which was exactly the moment Anders wished they hadn't insisted on this new A.I. Aide didn't live in any particular body, instead the programming ran from a central computer aboard the ship and he could interface with any system or drone connected to his network. The Aides were simply a way to allow 'him' to interact with the crew in a more human and personal way. Anders didn't mind, a ship with Aide was far better than one without. 

"Good, it's always good to show off during our maiden voyage. I mean, have you heard the news from the Gateway? They're saying we might be getting [I]new contracts[/i] to journey out of our system. Think of the challenges and this ship is going to be at the front and centre off it all." He chuckled slightly to himself. While this ship was the crown jewel of the fleet, he always just kind of assumed that being given the maiden voyage was the boards' way of giving him one last hoorah before shipping him off to the outer edges of the system to work his way through to retirement. Now it was an opportunity to do so much more, lead the way for his people to see grander things beyond the borders of their system.

Aides central light pinged red for a second just at the same time he noticed the tone in the room shift. "Sir. Drone #456772 has detected something anomalous." Anders walked forwards to the console table in the centre of his podium, a map showed him the ship and its surroundings. Various dots moving around the map, readouts on the ship, drones, refineries and various transports circled around her. One of the drones was pinging red. He highlighted it, flicking through the various camera views it had before he settled on the camera that showed what it was [url=https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/001/551/490/large/abner-marin-alienartifact-side.jpg?1448415302]holding in its arms[/url].

"What the hell is that?"

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[b][right]THE ENDURANCE // THE MEETING PLACE // SOL SYSTEM[/right][/b]
[right][sup][@Tortoise][/sup][/right]

While the [I]Undefeated[/i] representative had stayed aboard long enough to allow them to integrate with the systems of the station, Mackenzie had found herself quite perplexed at receiving a communication request from another power. The request to talk wasn't the surprising thing, what was surprising was the decorum, or lack thereof, from the diplomat. That could be forgiven however, everyone had those days, and different people had their different way of doing things.

She once worked with an HR representative who believed that the only good worker dispute mediation was one held in a boxing ring with copious amounts of alcohol, and they had a perfect track record. One of Mackenzies favourite people. 

No, the most surprising thing was the nations name. [I]Earth Cultural Union[/i]. Surely at this point in time Earth had no culture. They had ran comprehensive scans on the planet after they had docked and there was nothing down there, it was a dead world. Was this [I]ECU[/i] the successor state? Did they hold most of the playing cards? The [I]Undefeated[/i] made it seem as if they were joint allies in a war.

She sighed, this was only going to get more confusing. Her [url=https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/008/160/875/large/luca-nemolato-5.jpg?1510855163]assistant Jeeves[/url] came wheeling into the room, trilling happily. "What have you got for me Jeeves?"

She looked down at her tablet as it pinged, making her smile as she did so. The Captain had approved her request to co-opt the pilot bar for her meeting with the ECU delegate, as well as her request to bring another delegate aboard. Until headquarters had approved construction and completed construction, of a branch here in the meeting place it wasn't exactly possible or comfortable for an Employee to work aboard the station. Sure they could probably withstand and survive the gravity for a period of time, but it would cut things short and it wouldn't be pleasant.

She sent Jeeves to the airlock to receive their visitor, through the makeshift military checkpoint that had been hastily constructed, while she headed to the bar. Doing her best to clean it, and make it look presentable, while she waited for her next guest.