Chanced Mistakes

(OOC: K, my nation doesn't know that. ))

Upon walking through the stargate and into their own territory, Abel, William , and the three soldiers were immediately surrounded by other soldiers, these one dressed in hazmat suits, who held their rifles directly aimed at the five who returned.

Abel and William sighed, they knew this would happen, complete with the airtight dome that currently lay around the stargate; that whole area had been quarantined. The two diplomats knew exactly what to do: walk to the truck connected to the dome and fit into the hazmat suits that awaited them there. The truck would then drive them to a military hospital where several men in more hazmat suits would poke needles into them to withdraw samples of their bloods before they were thrown into a disinfectant room and injected with nanobots which would attacking anything identified as foreign. It was a moderately length process, but they couldn't be to careful, could they? What might not be deadly to the Rutians could be devastating to the Angelic Wraith; besides, the blood vaccines could possibly return some foreign entity the military scientist could orgasm over as they studied.

A few hours later, after they had been through the process, Abel and William headed strait to their superiors and gave their report...

((OOC: I'll post a flash forward when I return from school, maybe strait to sending my Emperor to your peeps. Anything interesting that could've seeped into Abel and William's blood from the environment? (eg: airborne viruses/bacteria? Or have they been wiped out too? ))

(OOC: Nothing more dangerous than a cold virus.)

(OOC: That sucks... /me mutates it into a biological weapon. ))

A small military convoy drove down the paved roads of the outskirts of Sarusilem. The convoy was simple, yet a magnificent show of force. A sleek, black, polished vehicle moved in the center, hovering effortlessly over the terrain as it went. Although, it was a military unit patrolling it, the vehicles themselves were far more simple. Rather than the menacing armored vehicles or mobile suits used by the Guard, these vehicles appeared to be civilian models. However, they were most likely extremely armored, and filled with armed, elite, soldiers.

The convoy moved quickly, alone in the roads. No military convoys were scheduled for an hour around the departure and return of the Emperor from his off world visit, and this stargate was military purpose only; the civilian stargate was smaller and located elsewhere in Sarusilem.

It had been a few weeks since Abel and William had filed their report. The Emperor, Alexander Cano, agreed that he should pay the Rutians a visit as was suggested. As a result, he had spent the last weeks learning German from sunup to sundown; while he knew he wasn't a master of the language, he felt himself competent enough with it to hold a worthy conversation.

Soon, the convoy arrived at the stargate, and a few minutes later: drove right through the active stargate. They appeared at the same place as they did last time...

(OOC: I'd prefer for the meeting to take place here, if possible; but if not...)

After the message was received, the military sent a confirmation message to show that they were aware of the date and time of the meeting, requesting an alteration so the meeting would happen at night on Dreva.

When the visiting Emperor arrived, he was met by several Rutians in military uniform. Two of them were off to the side, talking quietly. The others were near the gate watching the visitors closely.

The two off to the side glance over when the visitors arrive. One is about 6' 2", the other about 5'11". One has jet black hair, the other has a mostly shaved head with what's left being long and tied back. Both of them have the eye-color flickering as they look over. Both also have piercings. The taller one is in black slacks and a t-shirt, revealing tattoos on his arms. The shorter one is in a black uniform type dress with no visible markings.

After that first initial glance, the one in the t-shirt turns around and grabs a jacket from a woman nearby. The jacket gets put on and it looks similar to the other military. He doesn't fasten it as he heads over. The woman follows behind and hands him a datapad as he walks. The shorter man follows behind as well.

"Welcome to Dreva." The taller man smiles faintly. "I'm Shein Darson, Emperor of the Imperial Republic." He motions toward the woman on his left. "This is my wife, Empress Kennah Darson."

The woman smiles warmly and nods toward the visitors. "Welcome."

Shein glances toward the shorter man on his right. "And this is my personal guard, Lieutenant Arren Kelich."

Arren inclines his head respectfully toward the others. He doesn't speak though.

Although the speakers are talking in German, the datapad is translating into Angelic. The grammar isn't perfect, but it's understandable.

When the Angelic Wraith Emperor had unboarded his vehicle, a man of 5'11" had walked out the vehicle's backdoor. The man had faded blond hair: moderate shade of autumn brown. As he stood a few meters away from his vehicle, his green eyes had scanned his surroundings and hosts. As the Rutian group had been approaching, the A.W. Emperor's men had attempted to gather around him; he had quickly whispered them back.

Then, the Rutians had arrived and said their piece. "It's a pleasure to be here," Alexander stated, returning the faint smile, "Mr. Darson, Mrs. Darson, Lt. Lelich. I am Alexander Cano, Emperor of the Angelic Wraith Empire. Unfortunately, my wife chose to stay at home and care for our newborn..." Noticing their dress, Alex was glad he listened to his wife and came in his private-life clothes: Khaki cargo shorts to his knees, and a plain red T-shirt. He was a man in his early thirties, thirty-three to be exact.

((OOC: Bah... /me isn't sure to where to guide the meeting... So I'll let you do it!! ))

Once it registers to Shein what the visiting Emperor is wearing, he actually takes off his jacket. He hands it to Kennah, who rolls her eyes. The jacket may have been her idea. "Congratulations on the birth of your child. Do you have other children?"

Arren leans in and whispers something to Shein.

Shein listens, then nods. "If you'd like to take this somewhere else, the Citadel isn't far. It's our main military installation here and the safest location in the Imperial Republic. I don't anticipate any issues, but in our respective positions, one cannot be too careful."

Alex's face made no response to Shein's actions, but his mind did make a note of it. When faced with Kennah's question, he answered, "Yeah, I have a twelve year old son, Gabriel... What of you two?"

As he heard Shein's voice, he gave the man his attention and listened intently. His answer came a few seconds after Shein finished, "Well... I'd prefer to stay around here; I'm rather fond of the night. It's also a matter of security," Alex eyed his eight guards, who merely leaned on the vehicles, their weapons and bodies at ease, "they'd get a lot more heightened and more jumpy if I were to stray far from our own installations." He faced Shein once more. "But, if you'd prefer it, we can head to your base."

Shein nods slightly. "So you know how crazy kids make you." He smiles faintly. "I have five myself. Christian, Nikolas, Devon, Daniel, and Corrine." He nods to the mention of security. "I understand how security gets." He barely glances at Arren. "I have a nasty little habit of dodging my own guards at times in order to take a walk alone."

Arren snorts at this and rolls his eyes. He doesn't comment further.

Shein smirks at the sound beside him. "I should explain that almost all Rutians have psionic ability. Kennah is a telekinetic. I'm a telekinetic and I can see approximately five minutes into my own future. Arren, though, can kill with a thought. He's the perfect bodyguard and he's got it completely under control. He's harmless as long as no one actually attempts to hurt me. With my ability and his, we know if there's ever going to be danger and where it will come from."

Arren glances toward the visiting security.

Shein smiles faintly. "In short, I have no worries about staying out here. However, should I get nervous, that's when we should head to the Citadel."

Arren actually speaks up, his voice soft. "The only thing we'd have to worry about out here is wildlife anyway and there's nothing around here larger than a cat."

Okay, so that causes a soft hissing to come from the distance.

Shein turns toward the sound. "Knock it off."

There's a soft voice that comes from that area. "Sorry." A figure comes forward, more cat than human. In fact, it's a feline humanoid. If a cheetah could walk on two legs, this is it.

"This is Minhara. She's one of my soldiers. She's Comideran, not Rutian, but still a part of the Imperial Republic. She's also fairly harmless, but I wouldn't recommend shaking hands. Those claws she's got sting like a bitch." Shein smirks, then motions toward Minhara to take her position again.

Alex nodded, absorbing all the information, and at last he spoke. "I see... There are Angelic Wraith with psionic abilities... None that the government has discovered anyway; we've avoided major alterations to our people's genes. So, we must stick to technology..." He looked at the weapon at his soldier's side and remembered how it chewed up a sheet of metal when it was shown to him. The empire also had direct energy weapons, but they preferred to stick to projectiles, for the most part. As he looked back to the Rutians, he spoke again, "Do you always see the five minutes into the future, or only when you wish to? That's quite an interesting and helpful ability to have."

Shein smiles faintly. "I hope you don't mind overly much if I choose not to answer that question about my abilities. I'll just leave it that I can see five minutes into the future."

Kennah decides to tackle the earlier comment. "We didn't alter genetics. Psionics developed without our interference. There are all sorts. Telekinesis is the most common, but there are others like Lt. Kelich. Those who cannot control their abilities are kept separate. It may seem cruel, but when you have someone like Lt. Kelich who cannot control the ability, it's keep them apart or kill them."

Arren shakes his head. "Technology is nice, but it takes time to pull a physical weapon out, aim, and fire. By the time you'd have been able to do that, I'd have dropped the target already." He shrugs.

Shein glances at his guard. "Arren..." The one word carries an entire conversation. He glances back at Alex. "Pray you never see what he can do, because if you do see it, then there's real danger around. Anyway, I thought it would be good to start with some kind of a non-aggression agreement between us. I don't know where your Empire is located, and you likely only have a basic idea of where we are. I don't know what kind of travel capabilities you have, but we do have the ability to travel the entire galaxy in a very short amount of time. I wouldn't want my ships to pop in on you unexpectedly."

Alex noted both their comments. Especially the bit on Arren; he was thoroughly interested in what force in the universe would allow such a man to exist with such a powerful ability. He'd have to have his physicists explain more on the abilities of quantum mechanics, and see if anything there could ever be used to grant an Angelic Wraith such a power: the lower to kill with a mere thought.

When he spoke a few seconds later, he didn't bother addressing Arren; it seemed to Alex, based on Arren's sole statement, that Arren believed he could win battles on his sole ability ─ of course, Alex didn't allow this to shape his opinion of the man. That brought the thought of robotics into Alex's mind as his voice spoke in German, "A non-aggression pact sound acceptable, also inviting. But, I'm quite certain my Department of Education would be ecstatic with opening a class on Rutian history; which means that I'm compelled to request historical records of your nation. Of course, if you agree, the Angelic Wraith Empire's records will also be available to you. This would include modern borders and status, yes?"

Shein appears to consider the possibility of an exchange of history. "I'm not so certain we'd like all of our history out there at this point. It might do more harm than good. That may be something we can consider in the future, but for now, maybe an exchange of current culture would be better. Learn who we are now first."

Kennah nods in agreement. "As with all cultures, we've done things in the past that we're not proud of. My husband's concern is that you might judge us by what we did rather than who we are now."

Arren stays silent for now.

"Ah," Alex said with a nod. "While I'll respect your decision, I feel that I should mention: you're most likely not the only nation that might have a disastrous and... tainted past. My own empire's history is most blackened... Any true nation's would be; it would be ludicrous and hypocritical for us to judge you over your path. But, I will accept your offer of a simple exchange of modern culture..."

Shein smiles faintly. "Give us a bit of time to get to know each other. Then we can compare and see who has the blackest history." Competitive? Shein? Nah. "I'm almost curious enough to go for that now." He chuckles, then shakes his head. "Sorry."

Kennah looks ready to smack Shein upside the head. She sighs, then looks toward Alex. "I'll make certain you get datafiles on our culture and some of our more recent history."

Alex nodded towards Kennah. "Thank you. I'll ensure that you receive the same in return..." He was silent for a few seconds, looking thoughtful, before he continued. "Would an free trade agreement be acceptable to you? More specifically: would it be alright for Angelic Wraith corporations to have access to this gate?" Alex hoped they understood that the empire did not have control over the corporations which were headquartered within it; it could not control who in traded with, or what it traded ─ with the definite exception of weapons, of course.

Shein nods to Alex. "Of course. We don't have corporations here, but rather many small businesses. We're in the process of getting away from socialism. Hell, we just recently got away from a barter system and to a standard currency. I can give you information on the galactic market as well. We're not the only ones around."

Kennah smiles at Shein. He didn't make any stupid remarks following the news that there are others as well. All in all, he's being pretty diplomatic right now.

Alex nodded. "I see. And yes, I was getting towards asking about others... It makes sense we're not alone. Would you be willing to share your knowledge about them will the Empire? Or at least, tell us how we may contact them?"

Shein nods. "I'll get you the information on how to contact them, but as for sharing knowledge, I'll let them do that. I don't know exactly how much they'd want for me to share." He shrugs a shoulder. "One question, though. How would your people react toward vampires?"

Arren seems to take a keen interest in this particular question and answer.

Alex smiles, "Thanks." Then, the question about vampires pierced his mind. "The kind that require another creature's blood to survive? Well... As long as they wouldn't be aggressive towards us and had a similar philosophy, we could get along quite well; If only the previous is met, we could coexist peacefully. Really, I don't think my nation would care much about another race's anatomy, biology, or preferences."

Alex wonders why they would pose such a question. Are they vampires? Or perhaps one of their close friends..

"Oh, good. The ones we know are not aggressive. Well, not usually." Shein glances at Arren.

Arren sighs, then nods to Shein and starts to speak to Alex. "Esoteric is a planet nearby to the Imperial Republic. They have a vampire population there. The majority are non-aggressive. Yes, we do need blood to survive, but we don't have to kill to survive." Wait, we? "A while back, several of them decided to break from the majority and went to Burninandom, Rhea, and here on Dreva. I don't know the targets from the other two worlds, but here on Dreva, it was myself and Shein. They didn't get Shein, but they did get me." Oh. So he is one of them. "I'm still learning, but I am under control enough that I won't try and kill you for your blood."

Shein smiles at Arren faintly, then looks to Alex. "It was a shock when it happened. Only Arren can have such bad luck." He grins almost as though this is an inside joke.

Arren rolls his eyes. "Hey, none of it was my fault." He looks like he's fighting a smile.

"Didn't say it was, but that only you have the crappiest luck." Shein shakes his head and looks at Alex again. "Sorry, but he does. He's not even really Rutian anymore. He got a little scratch and ended up half-Prill. I'll introduce you to them at some point, but they're very reclusive. Our first encounter with them nearly destroyed one of their colonies and they turned violent to us until both of us realised it was a mistake. One of them scratched Arren and somehow they ended up linked and Arren's DNA merged with that of the Prill. Then he goes and gets turned into a vampire. I have no clue what's going to happen next, but it's guaranteed to be interesting whatever it is."

Kennah even looks a little amused, though less so than both Shein and Arren.

Alex couldn't help but smile as he heard the stories and read their faces. "Well, as long as they don't try to harvest from the Empire or it's allies, I can guarantee that the empire will not wage war against them due to their species." Alex smile fades as he spoke, and eventually seems slightly sad. As he spoke again, his frown faded and his face returns to it's normal. "Is that merging of DNA a remote incident? Or does that commonly happen? Either way, I think I'll have to be cautious when dealing with them..."

Arren answers the question. "They weren't intending to infect me, actually. The scratch wasn't exactly small either. It was deep and from my knee to my ankle. They were intending to kill me, but it changed me instead. It happens when their DNA is left behind in a potentially fatal wound where the individual does not die." Arren shrugs. "I don't understand how the merge happens. I just know it does. As for being cautious, well, just don't go waving a big stick in front of them, and they won't hurt you. The Prill are social. They still don't trust the Imperial Republic completely, but through me, they're seeing that things are not bad here. I think it'll be a matter of time before they officially join the Imperial Republic."

Shein looks at Arren with a bit of surprise. "Since when?"

Arren smiles faintly at Shein. "They've been discussing it for several months now."

Shein shakes his head. "And you were going to tell me when?"

Arren grins at this point. "What was I going to tell you?" It'd be obvious that he does not have fangs. Retractable maybe?

Kennah sighs and shakes her head. "Alright, boys, knock it off." This must be normal for these two then.

Shein can't help but chuckle. "We're gonna have to work on that communication stuff, Arren." He glances at Kennah.

"Communi-what?" Arren's grin gets bigger.

"Thought so." Shein rolls his eyes, but is clearly amused.

Alex nodded as he was told the information, and etched it all within his memory. He was also amused by the little exchange between Arren and Shein; such close friends they seemed. "Well," he says once the two had calmed down. "This was quite an interesting meeting; I trust we were both obtained what we set out to?"

Close friends is one way of putting it. Shein just nods to Alex. "I think we covered most of it. With the little time I had to prepare, I didn't get much input from the local councils, but I think if there are things that were overlooked, we'll be able to get in touch."

(OOC: Forgot to mention it, but Shein is 15 years older than Kennah and it does show. Shein looks to be in his forties and Kennah looks to be in her late twenties. Arren looks about the same age as Shein.)

"Alright, that's sounds good." Alex said slowly. "Shall we sign a document, or shall it be tied by trust?"