Unity II (FT)

Brother Lal's Office, U. N. Headquarters, MY 2281

Brother Lal looked at the viewscreen with tense excitement. Only a few days ago, his Pact Brother Academician Zakharov launched the first satellite to orbit planet, and for the first time since Planetfall they would be able to get a full picture of Planet. As Pact Brother, Zakharov was obligated to share all map data, which only made it all the better. It was signalling a new era of human development a few years after the end of the Progenitor Wars in which all of the factions joined together to defeat the two powerful alien factions, the Manifold Caretakers and the Manifold Usurpers, driving the Progenitor race off of Planet. As a result of the war, everyone settled into an uneasy truce, which was fine by him, since he had no desire to continue his Vendetta with Sister Miriam or Chairman Yang, two disastrous wars that he barely survived through and only because of outside intervention. Still, as the viewscreen flashed to life with Zakharov's familiar face, he seemed to be possessed of an odd... urgency, one that he had never quite seen before. Still, he greeted his Pact Brother normally, and said, "Greetings, Zakharov, it's good to see a familiar friendly face in these tense time. How goes the launch?"

Zakharov replied, "Excellent, Lal, my plan is to upload the map data to your servers immediately. More importantly, however, our satellite has... picked up something of interest. Or rather, some things."

Lal raised his eyebrow, and said, "Oh? And what's this thing that you speak of?"

Zakharov smiled, and said, "Radio signals, Lal. We can detect radio signals. A few from Earth, so apparently we're not the last humans alive after all, but more distressingly, we've found steady signals from... other places."

Lal yet again raised his eyebrow, and said simply, "Explain."

Zakharov simply chuckled, and said, "Well, what else would you expect? Aliens. However, I do not believe at all that it would be the Progenitors, they do not communicate using radio signals. It would be some other, unknown race... or many of them, for that matter."

Lal nodded, and said, "I see. Very well, then, thank you, Zakharov."

Zakharov replied, "Not a problem at all, Pact Brother." Then, as if it was an afterthought, he added on, "Oh, by the way, Lal, we've been working on some recovered Progenitor technology. We believe that it may be possible to unlock their secrets of traveling faster then light... but that's neither here nor there. Of course, you probably already know, being Planetary Governor, but I'm just making sure."

Lal simply smiled and nodded before turning disconnecting the commlink. He then thought on the importance of the information he just received, and decided on one thing: He had to bring it to the council.

Sure, that meant having to get Yang's and Miriam's input, not something he enjoyed, but they probably already knew anyways, with Zakharov's probe team defenses being totally non-existent up until only a few years ago following the creation of the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm. The thing destroyed probe teams like a dream, but it most certainly did not remove infiltration already in place. Nevertheless, if someone didn't know, they were going to. Such a thing could not be kept hidden and not violate the U. N. Charter.

Lal then sighed one last time. Decisions, decisions. How he sometimes hated them.

He then pressed the big button on the screen summoning everyone for a Planetary Council meeting.

***

Lal watched as six rectangles flashed onto his viewscreen, each of them displaying one of the other six faction leaders on camera. Quickly enough, everyone appeared in their rectangle, and Lal began the formalities of Council meetings, disregarding everyone's "Lal we've done this dozens of times before" look. He said,

"Planetary Council Meeting, MY 2281. Planetary Governor: Pravin Lal. Members: Pravin Lal of the Peacekeeping Forces, Deirdre Skye of Gaia's Stepdaughters, Sheng-Ji Yang of the Human Hive, Prokhor Zakharov of the University of Planet, Nwabudike Morgan of Morgan Industries, Corazon Santiago of the Spartan Federation, Miriam Godwinson of the Lord's Believers. All members are in attendance. Now, as for the business of this meeting...

"As you all may or may not know, my Pact Brother Zakharov has recently just launched the first artificial satellite to orbit Planet, a remarkable feat. Naturally, such an event would reveal all of the surface of Planet, eliminating any further need for exploration, but that is not the subject of this meeting. Instead, it's something rather more important...

"The satellite has managed to pick up radio signals. Some from Earth, so we know that we are not the last of humankind, but more importantly there are some from other locations, in other words, aliens. We have reason to believe that said aliens are not Progenitors, as they do not use radio technology, meaning that it could be potentially be beneficial for us to contact them. It could open new horizons for all of us, and I am willing to be the one who speaks for all of us and then humanity as a whole."

None of the others said anything in reply, although Lal could see in their expressions some suspicion. Zakharov, on the other had, gave him a look that said "I didn't tell you to do this, what are you doing?". However, soon enough, the vote began. Lal immediately voted Yea, followed up grudgingly by Zakharov. Morgan also quickly voted Yea, seeing potential business. Yang and Santiago were quick to vote Nay, and Miriam and Deidre abstained, leaving the vote 3-2. As a result, the motion was passed. Everyone then disconnected, with the exception of Zakharov.

He then said to Lal, "Well, that was unexpected of you. Why did you not tell them about the University reverse engineering the Progenitor tech as well? If you started, you might as well have finished. If anything, I expected you to go on saying that we should be building UNS Unity II."

Lal shrugged, and said, "You wouldn't have been pleased, for a start, and as things are you still aren't very pleased. Besides, I believe it would be more prudent to actually contact some of these aliens first before making any rash decisions."

Zakharov nodded back, replying, "Very well, then, I'll respect your decision. Also, since it seems like your heart is so set to this, I'm going to transfer to you control of my base Relativity School, where the Universal Translator secret project is housed. Make a good message, then, Pact Brother. Zakharov out." He then disconnected.

Lal chuckled, and replied to no one, "Thank you very much, I'm very much obliged," before disconnecting.

He then went and began to write a message to relay to Relativity School for transmittion...

***

To: Whoever May Be Listening
From: Commissioner Pravin Lal, Planetary Governor of Alpha Centauri

Greetings to whoever may be detecting this message. If you are listening to this, my name is Pravin Lal of the Peacekeeping Forces and I am the Planetary Governor and leader of Alpha Centari. We would like to wish all who may here this our good will and hope to be able to establish communications if possible, in spite of the distance. Commissioner Lal out.

(OOC: Now you can post )

(OOC: Technically, we don't use radio but the Holo-Net for FTL communications.)

A single Star Destroyer, the Invidious, shows up over Alpha Centauri. It hovers there for an hour before a Lambda-class shuttle, escorted by a pair of TIE Defenders, emerges from it and heads for the UN Headquarters. When it lands, the two TIEs head back to the Star Destroyer. Out emerges a pair of Confederate Paladins.

(OOC: Aww, you picked the blanket approach. Burnination never answers those. Also, I'll have you know that I've already been using 'Universal Translator'

Panpan, if you want, you can be the one to suggest that Brother Lal comes to the celebration, since Burnination won't respond to this.)

(OOC: This "Universal Translator" is actually one huge building (not exactly portable) and is a secret project from the game with that name exactly.)

To: Commissioner Pravin Lal, Planetary Governor of Alpha Centauri
From: Emperor Shein Darson, Imperial Republic of Rutianas

Greetings and well met. We received your message and wish you well. We hope we may work together in the future.

-Emperor Shein Darson

Brother Lal was in for an unfortunate surprise when his head security and naval advisor burst in through his office door and said to him urgently, "Sir, a large extraterrestrial ship of some sort has entered the orbit of Planet, and seems to be observing us."

Lal raised his eyebrows in disbelief and said, "What?"

The officer shook his head, and said, "What I said is what I said, sir. You can see for yours-"

Suddenly, shouting sounds erupt from the distance. Lal could hear, "Down with him! Down with him! He's sending aliens here again to kill all of us!" He then asked, "By Chiron, what on Planet was that was that?"

The officer grimaced and said, "Drone riots. You didn't think that they wouldn't see something like that, did you?"

Lal gave him an equally dark grimace. "If it's like how you're putting it, no."

Suddenly, his communications officer then burst in through the door. He shouted, "Brother Lal! We have several urgent transmissions from all of the other factions! Also, an alien nation by the name of the Imperial Republic of Rutianas has also contacted us!"

Lal thought on it for a moment, and said, "I'll reply to this Rutianasians or whatever that would be. As for the others, ignore their transmissions. Surely they will only contact us solely to start declaring Vendetta with us. We'll deal with them later. Ignore even Zakharov, Morgan, and Skye. Even they will be outraged, maybe rightfully."

The security officer then asked, "And the drone riots, sir?"

Lal again thought on it. For a moment, he wanted to say, "Nerve staple them," but he knew that was a horrible solution to any problem. Thus, he simply said, "Fine, let them riot. Bring in a few Empaths and it should be fine. If it's truly necessary, rush a Hologram Theater. Otherwise, let them be." The security officer nodded and left.

Then, another security officer burst in through the door, and said, "Brother Lal, an alien shuttle has made planetfall, and two alien soldiers came out!"

Lal rubbed his forehead, and said uncharacteristically out of the stress, "The hell. Fine, order some soldiers to bring them in, and you go with them and make contact with them. Lead them to me if they are peaceful. If they want to kill us, they would have done it a long time ago, we have nothing to lose."

The second security officer then nods a bit hesitantly, and also left. He thought to himself that if he was going to die, at least it wasn't going to be at the hands of the Hive. No, he shuddered, he didn't want to be "one with all the people" in one of Yang's Recycling Tanks. But no, that's neither here nor there...

***

To: Emperor Shein Darson, Imperial Republic of Rutianas
From: Commissioner Pravin Lal, Planetary Governor of Alpha Centauri

We thank you for your friendly reply to our message and also hope that we may cooperate in peace in the future. May it be better for all of us through mutual friendship.

~Commissioner Pravin Lal

***

The two Paladins landed right outside the base in a forest, next to something that appears to be some sensor array with a network of connecting roads, with one odd tube of some sort. Presumably the sensor array gave away their location as in only minutes a group of soldiers in strange yellow flexible and durable armor (silksteel) with odd rifles (impact) arrived to make contact with them. One of them, seemingly a leader of some sort, began to speak to the Paladins with a strange headset (with a radio link to the Universal Translator). He said, "Greetings, extraterrestrials, and welcome to the planet of Chiron, which we often call simply Planet. What is your intent and purpose for landing on this planet?"

Meanwhile, his men shuffled behind him uneasily...

They bow briefly. The older one speaks. "I am Corin Dryell, a Paladin of the West Asian Confederation, and this is my apprentice, Willis Otrayn. We have been sent here by the Confederated States of Rhea to make contact personally. I apologize if our sudden appearance shocked you."

(OOC: I am seriously restraining myself from bringing my Alpha Centauri modded faction here. )

(OOC: It's unfortunate that Burnination's previous precedents preclude its ability to get involved )

(OOC: LOL, what is it like, Rut?)

The commanding officer bowed back to the Paladins in return, and nods. He then said, "It is an honor for me to welcome you on the behalf of the Peacekeeping Forces and the people of Alpha Centauri. Please, do follow, and follow quickly. It is somewhat... chaotic inside base at the moment..."

They follow.

As they entered the base, they could see numerous unhappy lower-class people in dirty and tattered clothing (Drones) out in the streets rioting and shouting out, "Down with Lal! Down with the alien lover! Down with the Talents! Down with Lal!" It kept going on and on like that. Some of the higher-class citizens of the base in clean and well made blue and white suits with the U.N. insignia looked on at the riots in disbelief (Talents), while working in inside in various buildings, doing highly skilled labor. Yet some others seemed to care less, as many of the citizens just seemed to be middle-class people in a hurry to get to work (Workers). Luckily, despite the riots, the police did a decent job of controlling the Drones and the Paladins managed to pass through unharmed, much to the relief of the officer.

***

Sooner or later, they arrived at the office of Commissioner/Brother Pravin Lal, and upon their arrival, he said to the Paladins slightly nervously, "Welcome to Alpha Centauri! I hope that you could get here without too much trouble despite... well, the drone riots. Your arrival, however, turned out to be... a bit of a shock for all of us, including myself, as I expected a simple relay of messages. Now, what could I do for you? I believe that an exchange of information could be helpful for both of us?"

"Our sudden arrival was Emperor Dmitri's suggestion. He felt surprise was wiser. That and his preference for meeting face-to-face. He would come himself but he is currently overseeing the construction of one of our colonies. If you wish to speak to him face to face, that can be arranged. As for an information exchange, I can give you a brief overview of our political structure and more if you have questions. The Confederated States of Rhea consist of four superstates, the West Asian Confederation, which we directly serve; the Third Empire of Sparta, though these days they prefer the Greco-Russian Empire; the Commercial Republic of Panzersharkcat; and the Leggaland Union, for a total of thirty states. The heads of state of the four superstates are co-rulers of the Confederacy, though young Emperor Dmitri has the greatest influence among the population."

Lal raised his eyebrow, and said, "Wiser? Interesting. In any case, I can coordinate the upload of part of the Datalinks to your nation's network. The Datalinks are basically the archives we've all been building up organically since the time of planetfall. Some cartographic, political, economic, and social information will be on there. Speaking of political information, I feel it is important to inform you that while I am Planetary Governor of Alpha Centauri, I do not have direct control over all of the inhabitants. You will most likely need to contact some of the other autonomous factions on this planet individually later. Some of them may be somewhat... aggressive, however, Sister Miriam of the Lord's Believers comes to mind especially, but Chairman Yang of the Human Hive and Colonel Corazon Santiago of the Spartan Federation may also be less hospitable. Lady Deirdre Skye of Gaia's Stepdaughters, CEO Nwabudike Morgan of Morgan Industries, and Academician Prokhor Zakharov of the University of Planet should be fairly friendly to you. There will be some profiles on everyone in the Datalinks, however, including my own, so I feel no need at the moment to reveal much more. Also, would your nation like to establish embassies and a proper diplomatic link? I've not done such before with the other factions, but I feel it is appropriate in this situation."

A Burninite ship appears in the Alpha Centauri system, quickly scans the planet surface, then vanishes again. If the civilization on the ground was well equipped, the ship could have been spotted. If it has fast reactions, it may have been able to send a message before the ship vanished again.

"Thank you. We most certainly will. You may do the same. If you wish to meet Emperor Dmitri himself, you may come on board the Invidious and we will take you to his ship." He pauses for a moment and asks, "Do you have the presence of any meta-humans? We have limits on how many are allowed on our embassies."

The University, with the most advanced sensor technology, detects the Burnite ship but doesn't do anything. Zakharov's probably keeping it a secret from Lal after the aftermath of telling him the results of the satellite ship."

***

Lal shrugs, and says, "I would like to, but I cannot be completely sure as to the safety of such a trip. I believe that I can send an officer of mine, however, and it may be possible for your Emperor to set up a commlink with us so that I may speak to him face to face with a viewscreen."

"He prefers to talk face-to-face. It's much less tempting for him to suddenly cut off communications due to boredom."

The apprentice speaks, "Don't take offense if he does. It's just that his perception of the passage of time is different than ours. By the time I finish this sentence, an hour may have passed from his perspective."

The Rutians do show up in one of their ships, just popping into space in orbit. They obviously don't care if they're detected. They do check out the planet for mapping purposes, likely notating where major cities are located and how the planet seems to be drawn up. They're also monitoring communications. They don't make contact though. They're just hanging out it would seem.

Lal raises an eyebrow. "An hour? Care to explain? In any case, Officer Aaron, can you go with the Confederates to meet their Emperor? As you've already been the first to meet them on our planet, I see no reason why you should not be the first to meet them on theirs."

He nods slightly, and says, "It would be a honor, sir."

(OOC: Yes, I will name this guy Andreus Aaron as a throwback to the times of yore )

***

The Rutians can get a general idea of the divisions of Chiron, and can note that the Peacekeepers have the most and the largest bases, followed up by the Hive. The Believers, Morganites, and the Gaians seem to have the least presence, with the others in between. No one who detects them contacts them, as they seem content to simply let them observe.

Dryell says, "Well, you see, there are many people on our planet with... special abilities. My apprentice and I are of a certain classification that allowed us to become Paladins. For instance, telekinesis." He waves a hand and lifts a few nearby books. "Emperor Dmitri possesses greatly enhanced speed. He has been clocked at speeds approaching Mach 40 and yet he can run at those speeds without his wake or the intense pressure from his feet destroying everything. To let him even comprehend what is going on, his perception of time is greatly changed."

Otrayn says, "Should we escort him to our shuttle now, master?"

Lal nods a bit curiously and says, "I see, I see, I'll keep that in mind. We have a few telepaths known as Empaths and have done a bit of researching in the way of psi, especially due to the psionic attack abilities of some of the native life forms on this planet, but we've never had anything like this. In any case, I'll leave you to do whatever you may need with Officer Aaron."

And so they take him to the shuttle and to the Star Destroyer, where they jump into hyperspace. One hour and 14786 light years later, they arrive at Cronus, their new colony. It's a sight to behold. Three dozen Acclamator-I and Acclamator-IIs and a dozen Imperial II-class Star Destroyers. They emerge at the edge of that group. Suddenly, some of the Star Destroyers around them are put in shadow and the Invidious is put in shortly after. If Officer Aaron looks out the bridge window, he will see an Executor-class Star Dreadnought, the Gantrithor, in its full eleven-mile-long glory.

Officer Aaron is almost sent into cold shock upon seeing the Gantrithor. He's a pretty stoic guy, as are many of the people of Chiron, what with the constant mind worm assaults, but hey, the ship is easily bigger then the largest base on Chiron.

They let him let the sight of that ship sink in. Then they take him to a shuttle and fly to the Gantrithor's docking bay, where he would be greeted by the Emperor in his Black Speeder outfit/armor. In the blink of an eye, he would go from being twenty feet away to being right in front of Aaron. He offers to shake hands. "Hello. I am Emperor Dmitri Medvedev II, but please, just call me Dmitri. I was informed only twenty seconds ago that you were arriving. How's your day?"