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Namek

The United Autonomous Republics was far from united. Constant skirmishing and minor fleet action ravaged the Frontier District, each state teetering on the brink of war with her neighbours. Contested systems like Victory, Triumph and Oasis switched hands seemingly once every couple of years, sometimes as quickly as once every few months. Propaganda spewed forth from the media of every state, proclaiming their superiority over their rivals, while news of weakness and defeat were censored from public channels by shadowy and overzealous government officials. But try as they might, the states cannot argue against the facts of the battlefield.

Though the traditional administrative boundaries of the three districts seemed to give some indication of the relative power parity between the thirteen states, the reality was hardly so clear-cut. Within the Central District, perhaps only the Transsystemic Cooperative could be said to be truly stronger than the other states. The Imperialist Republics was a strong contender, possessing some three colonial outposts in the contested systems. Yet its ongoing war with the Solar Confederacy - a "mere" Frontier District state - seemed to be bogged down, something hardly characteristic of conflict between a strong state and its immediate inferior.

But of course, there were weaker states. Among them could be counted the names of the Mercantile Trade Syndicate, a loose band of traders occupying the system of Port who relied more on their diplomatic prowess than strength of arms to get by. The Metropolitan Great House, a dynasty of independent warlords in the outer rim who seemed more interested in taxing trade than fighting. The Steel Sun Clan, whose fleets are numerous, but poorly led and trained, leading to several humiliating defeats in recent years. The Mining Combine, the ferocity of whose armies were a force to be reckoned with on any battlefield but whose fleets were entirely wanting.

The title of the weakest of all the states, however, has to go to none other than the United Moons Directorate. Poor, starving, practically fleetless after their legendary defeat during the Ellian Civil War, this was a state that was nowhere near ready for the trials and tribulations of another war. But they continue waging war anyway (and continue to lose badly) against their traditional foes; none other than the Solar Confederacy who stood toe-to-toe against one of the Central District states and came out on top. Suicidal was perhaps the aptest descriptor of the United Moons Directorate at this point in time.

Nonetheless, the arrival of foreign vessels caused quite a stir among the upper echelons of military command. Concerned admirals gathered in the recently reconstructed Directorate Military Headquarters to deliberate the nature of these alien craft, their unintelligible transmissions and how to proceed from here. Paige Michael Mossford Sr., the oldest granddaughter of the Mossford House (the dynasty of independent warlords ruling over the United Moons Directorate), stood up to address the small assembly of kinsmen, advisors and general officers.

"Observatories report the presence of several large vessels of unknown origin and design entering the system. Based on their proximity to the planet when they left F-T-L, we know that their technology is far superior to ours. We also know that our radio transmissions have been jammed along a wide band for roughly sixty seconds starting from 13:57:09 to 13:58:03 - that was twenty-five minutes ago. Dahyanyu, what do you make of this?"

Shane Nancy, a prominent military advisor in the service of the Mossford House, rose to reply to his lady-lord. "Mossford-jin, I believe that we should act with all due caution in the presence of these beings. We don't know how strong they are and we don't know where they come from. It would be most unwise to upset them. I would advise not confronting them directly, but instead seeking some way to communicate with them."

Admiral Kyle Lisa thought otherwise, and he wasted no time making his opinion known. "With all due respect, Nancy-jun, if we let every random alien and their lapdogs trot all over our space, how will the other states see us? What of the great Directorate's respect? What of the great Mossford House's dignity? I propose we sally out in force and send them running back to whichever corner of the galaxy they came from."

"Lisa-jun, we don't even know if our weapons will be effective against their ships," Shane Nancy sighed. The hot-headed admiral's reputation for seeking confrontation whenever possible was well-known and it would likely prove to be his undoing one of these days. "Nor do we know the extent of their empire. If they retreat and nothing else comes of it, then that would be fine. But if they come back an even bigger fleet and a burning vengeance, Lisa-jun, that is not a burden neither you, nor I, can bear."

Paige Michael nodded. "Nancy-jun is correct. We ought not to aggravate them. However, I believe that Lisa-jun has a good attitude. We need to show these aliens who owns this system. Hachotakya Kathryn-jun, launch your fleet, but stay in orbit and do not engage. See if you can establish contact with the aliens."

The appointed admiral saluted. "Jisho. I will have my strike force in orbit in ten minutes, Mossford-jin." The lady-lord nodded and wished him Godspeed. With his lord's blessings, he turned and left the room, waving for his aide to follow. As the young lieutenant caught up to him, he took out his note pad to scribble down a quick order before tearing the page off and handing it to the boy. "Pass down my orders. Have the strike force launch immediately."

As Ernest Kathryn's Strike Force was mustering and preparing to depart port, the patrol fleet around Jewel (the planet's name), consisting of Rosy class light cruisers, rallied together to form a thin battle line to oppose the Nordic Sciences flotilla. These spacecraft, although barely a threat to any sizable military vessel on their own, can be very dangerous in concentrated numbers, and the planetary patrol was certainly numerous with a few hundred vessels assembled in front of the Nordic fleet.

Nordic sensors are likely able to pick up the fact that these craft are relatively lightly armed, with a small number of low-calibre guns, and also very lightly armoured but highly mobile. They could probably guess that these vessels were typically employed by Ellian navies as skirmishing elements, screening forces and fast raiders and did not pose too much of a threat to their larger ships.

They would also be able to see that the Ellian ships communicated using Morse code transmitted via signal lamps, but no other advanced communications methods could be detected except for simple, rudimentary radio signals. It could, therefore, be concluded that the Ellians either did not receive their earlier transmission and offer of friendship, or they did not have the necessary technology to understand what the message was saying. In any case, it was clear that further effort was required to establish stable communications with this seemingly primitive civilisation.

A rather small fleet, consisting of only 1 Battleship, 2 Destroyers, A Freighter, and a Transport vessel come near the TUAR Border, but do not enter, and request to land both the Freighter and Transport vessel. The Group, who identifies themselves as "The Redford Republic" states that the warships are there for protective measures, as "The potential goods aboard may interest some."

The Battleship, Freighter, Destroyers, and Transport vessel appear as an image on the holographic displays (or if they don't have that it can be something similar the faction might have). These warships, true to the person's word, seem to be in defensive positions around the freighter and transport craft.

News spread around UEG spaceports and some of the worlds. Rumors had said that there was a new presence or group in the galaxy. Eventually, the rumors got to the ears of the higher-ups in government. An act of locating and establishing good relations would be instituted and put forth immediately.

A small diplomatic task force is sent with the newest generation of the Paris-Class frigate. the UNSC Halifax. The frigate leaves UEG space in hopes of finding the source of these rumors.

Onboard the frigate, the ship's A.I who goes by the name of Camilla, whose avatar is of a young woman from the early 1900s Earth. She is tasked with spending the voyage learning anything she can about the rumors and who they are about. Anything else that might be of interest as well like possible language barriers.

(Also the ships not finished if your wondering lol)

Super_Mapper BattleCruiserCommander

Port was a busy trade system shared by two member states of the Confederation: the Mercantile Trade Syndicate and the Metropolitan Great House. Together, they oversaw the ludicrous trade route running from the Ellian homeworld to the Duchy of Sunasun via the trade hub of Common, granting them considerable wealth. The arrival of alien warships into the system was a common occurrence for these shrewd businessmen and rarely a cause for alarm. For this reason, the sudden appearance of several foreign military warships on the edge of the system was much better received by the shrewd traders compared to the other Ellian state.

Though the Ellians could not understand what either of the two fleets was trying to tell them, they understood that these foreigners likely carried no hostile intent - at least not yet. The system's defence fleet was mustered and held in reserve, just in case fleet action broke out, but their commanders were fairly dismissive of the alien vessels as a threat to the system's security.

While the military was mustering its defences forces, marines and military police vessels were dispatched to investigate the ships. These small corvettes, numbering no more than a dozen or so vessels, carrying a handful of small guns and barely large enough to hold more than a dozen or so men, approached the Unralith and Redford ships slowly, their sun disks (a large beacon/signal lamp mounted on top of the bridge) white to signal truce. A short radio broadcast was directed towards the two alien fleets, repeating a simple message in a little over half a dozen or so languages.

I HIWE NU HAWE KASMARIYANA SUKUNA. PAHINU CHINI CHIWE ZAMINI NE BOSENI.

I HINO NU HANO KASMARI SUKUNA. HAHINU CHINI CHINO SAMINI NE HOSENI.

I HIWE NU HAWE KASMARIYANU SUKUNU. PAHINI CHIHE CHIWE ZAMINE NE BOSENE.

I MA MU KA TESUMARIVARU TOSUNIXORU. ZAHIRI CHIKARE HA ZAMIRE ME SETIRE.

CI BYA PYA FOKASUMARIKYALU FESUMYALU. RIMALI CHILEXU NA RIMILEXU NI KALEXU.

GYU AI KASUMARI SUCHISHU. RIMASHI KISHEHU U RIMISHUBU E SESHUBU.

PYA AI KASMARI SUCHISHU. GISHI KISHE U GASHE E SESHE.

OOC Note To Self: U RU IN KASMARI TERETORI. PULEZU SUTOPU ANDU SUBUMITU FORU INSUPEKETUSHON.

Namek

The first elements of Ernest Kathryn's Strike Force had just about fully mustered by the time the Nordic Sciences spacecraft dispatched the medical supply ship. As the Lax class medium cruisers that comprised the Strike Force's vanguard were launched from their berths, the Nordic shuttle was brought to Ernest's attention by his chief tactical officer.

"The alien flagship appears to have launched an object," she noted dultifully.

"An object?" He asked quickly, "Only one? What sort of object?"

"An object," she confirmed, "Only one. We think it's aimed at the planet, but we're not sure yet." She gestured over to the navigation department, whose members were frantically scribbling down numbers onto pieces of paper and passing them around, trying to calculate the Nordic shuttle's trajectory by hand. Judging by how fast they were trying to work, Ernest assumed that the craft would likely have entered the atmosphere by the time they confirmed their calculations. "The Observer thinks it might be a munition, but he's not sure yet."

The admiral merely nodded as he digested this information, his short, wavy brown hair jostling with the motion. He could not risk letting anything hit the planet, but destroying the object might raise the ire of the aliens in case it was something important. "Order the laser stations to push it into orbit. Have marines on standby for boarding actions."

"Ji!" Came the cry. "Jisho!" It echoed down the line.

A few minutes later, the civilian laser stations that constituted the planetary laser highway turned their emitters towards the incoming Nordic shuttle and focused in their beams on it, pushing it into a wide orbital trajectory that clipped the atmosphere, allowing aerobraking and air drag to naturally slow the object down even further and settle into a more stable orbit. Marine corvettes stationed around Jewel quickly moved in to secure the object. Boarding parties armed with carbines, plasma cutters and tethered to long cables leapt from the airlocks of their transports and began cutting their way into the defenceless shuttle. It did not take long before Ernest got what he was waiting for.

"Marines report the object is a shuttle filled with medical supplies, Takya," a communications officer shouted, "The supplies are being retrieved as we speak."

Ernest's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Medical supplies?" He turned towards the general direction of the alien space ships (his ship was still too far away to see them with the naked eye) with an expression of borderline disbelief. "Well, I suppose we ought to thank them then. Edith-jun, what's the best gift that you can give an alien that doesn't speak Ellian?"

Edith Manuel, the second in command of the Ellian flagship Defender of Jewel, placed her chin on interlaced fingers and considered this question with a thoughtful expression for some time. "Well, it'd be a cake of course. Everyone likes cakes. But do they even eat cakes?" The other command staff laughed amongst themselves at that, jokingly debating the probability of the aliens being able to process starch and whether or not sugar might be poisonous to alien lifeforms. Ernest was far less impressed by the attempted humour, however. "If not cakes," she quickly added in a far more serious tone, "Perhaps a children's picture book about learning words. That might help speed up communications."

"Good thinking," the admiral agreed, "Radio, tell the carrier force to acquisition any literature it can - preferably ones with pictures - and send it to those aliens via dropship."

"Jisho!"

After almost half an hour of reorganisation with the carrier force scrambling to fulfil the admiral's most bizarre request, a dropship loaded with Ellian literature was launched from the hanger of one of the carriers in the Ellian fleet and slowly made its way towards the flagship of the Nordic Sciences flotilla. The dropship, unlike any other vessel that could be seen in the Ellian fleet (except the marine corvettes), relied on conventional chemical rockets for propulsion and featured wings. It was essentially a spaceplane - a type of small craft capable of operating both in atmosphere and in space - designed to ferry troops to the surface of a planet and use rocket boosters to return to orbit. Nordic sensors may pick up what basically amounted to machine guns and a few missiles attached to the craft's wings, weapons that posed no threat to any of the Nordic ships and were probably only meant to support ground troops and provide basic defence against enemy fighters.

Namek KrankysFirebrand48

"The Observer reports the dropship has been received by the alien flagship, Takya," the Chief Navigation Officer stated. Ernest nodded passively; it was still too early to tell what might transpire from these recent events. After another twenty minutes or so, the Chief Navigator spoke again. "Hachotakya Kathryn-jin. The foreigners have launched another object."

"Keep me informed the activities of the aliens and the object."

"Jisho!" She returned to her work, and after a few more minutes one of her subordinates updated her on their findings. Promptly, she turned to the admiral. "Takya, the object has been identified as a small craft similar to the previous one, though slightly larger. We think it's heading towards our formation at reduced speed. The observer also reports a new alien vessel has just entered the system. It is much smaller than the alien flagship."

Ernest considered this development for quite some time. The arrival of a new ship, especially a small one, seemed largely inconsequential to him. His main concern was that the aliens might try to sneak an explosive into their ranks now that they've lowered their guard. He had some background knowledge in theoretical ordnance that might be developed in the future if the physics upon which they were based proved to be true. Given how advanced these aliens are assumed to be, it was prudent that he took all necessary precautions in case they had such a weapon.

But at the same time, they needed to show an appropriate level of respect to the aliens, and also demonstrate that they were respectable themselves. Eventually, he came to a decision. "Logistics, get Bonnie-jun on the line for me."

"Ji!" A liaison officer quickly plugged a pair of wires into the switchboards before him and the call was sent out. After a couple of moments, Brian Bonnie, the ship's captain, answered the phone.

"Hachotakya Kathryn-jin," he greeted politely, "What can I do for you, Takya?"

"Muchatakya Bonnie-jun," Ernest returned, "Would it be too much trouble to ask you to take this ship out of the line? I believe that we should collect the alien small craft personally."

"Not at all, Takya. I'll prepare the airlocks for docking procedure immediately."

"Thank you kindly." He hung up and turned to the Chief of the Strategical Department. "Brandon-jun, pass down my orders. All ships are to remain in line. Hachotakya Allen-jun will act as acting commander of the Strike Force until I return."

"Ji!" Came the cry. "Jisho!" It echoed down the line, just as the vessel lurched forward. The signal lamps bristling from the ship's superstructure quickly repeated the order to the fleet in Morse code. The flagships of the rear admirals quickly flashed their acknowledgement in return before ordering their formations to stay put.

The Defender of Jewel met the incoming Nordic Sciences dropship in the middle ground between the two fleets and moved to dock with it. A section of marines took up positions around the airlock, ready to board the craft and retrieve the cargo. They certainly were not excepting several aliens to step out of the vessel once the airlocks were opened.

"Takya!" It was the Chief Security Officer. "Marines report several aliens are here to negotiate!"

Ernest's eyebrows show up in surprise. "They can speak our language already? It's hardly been an hour." Truly these aliens must have been far beyond what the Ellians were currently capable of to have achieved such an accomplishment. He made a mental note to be as accommodating as possible in the following negotiations. It would not do to upset them. "Manuel-jun, come with me," he commanded, rising to his feet, "We'll meet them in the hanger."

"Jisho!"

The two Ellian officers arrived in the hanger after a couple of minutes. Dressed in their duty uniforms, they held their helmets under their arm just in case they needed it. The aliens waiting for them in the hangers looked remarkably Ellian, bearing only a slight difference in facial features, skin tone and body shape. Ernest could not help but wonder if their two species were somehow related, or if the matter was merely one of coincidence.

"I am Juhachotakya Ernest Kathryn of the United Moons Directorate," the brown-haired Ellian saluted, touching two extended fingers to her temple as if to press a push-to-talk button on a radio headset, "This is my second, Jumuchatakya Eidth Manuel-jun. It is an honour to meet you." The blue-haired girl beside him saluted in turn upon her introduction. "Welcome to Jewel. What brings you to our lovely home?"