The star rushed into view, the dull purple colors swirled in view for a moment before he quickly turned the ship away. Watching the position of the star he kept a healthy distance from the brown dwarf.
As the scanner went of and he glanced through the list of planets, Marcus was pulled from the list.
"I am assuming you cannot scoop fuel from that star? Where do those stars fall in the human classification?"
He looked over at Velictus who had been in the seat next to him the past twenty or so jumps.
"Well, it's a brown dwarf and no, they don't fuse hydrogen so they don't really have a stellar wind to speak of. Hard to scoop hard vacuum."
He picked a class three gas giant that was decently far away and pointed the ship to it as he swivelled the seats to face each other.
"Ok, so I know how much we all enjoyed the hundred and thirty-plus jumps and as eager as we are all to get back to jump-honk-scoop-jump, I do want to point out that as of this jump we are now a mere ten jumps from where I will be able to bring…"
He motioned at all of them, "Everything, to my species' various governments. I figured now would be as good as time as any to let all of you know what I'm hoping will happen."
The lights dimmed and the area between all of them lit up with the image of the bubble they had all seen early on.
"Now, the place I'm taking us is Professor Palin's base, here." The image moved over and down for a brief moment before settling on a system outside the bubble are.
"Now, it's outside the bubble I kept mentioning, I know, but there's a reason for that." He paused a moment, "I'll get to that in a bit but, I am fairly confident that he will be able to get the people we need for a formalized first contact to listen."
Benezia cut in, "Fairly confident Marcus?"
"Well, yeah, I've been out of the bubble for months on end and while mosts things stay the same, sometimes I come back to some curveballs. I'm kinda hedging my bets with the fairly confident thing. I'm pretty sure all of you will get his attention."
The projections zoomed in to the system, the two large, blue stars taking up the view before it zoomed in to show the base's position on the surface of the planet.
"Remember how I said we'd have contact with aliens before? He studies them and all the big players listen to him."
They all thought about that for a moment, Marcus was content to let them mull it over when Benezia spoke up again.
"These aliens you've met before, what chance is there that we can meet them? I am curious."
Marcus rolled the idea round in his head, "Well, I'd say you're welcome to try but I've never heard any indication they interact much at all with anyone beyond just scanning them. I've heard rumors on galnet about attacks but…" He shrugged.
"I wouldn't even know how to contact them."
"Fair enough, I am here to make contact with Humanity after all."
Marcus just smiled and nodded at that.
"Well, like I said, we're close now. You all will get to see much more of humanity although, an engineer's base isn't much of an introduction in comfort."
With another shrug, he looked around the bridge again at the four of them.
"Are we ready?"
The four of them exchanged looks before Benezia spoke up, an amused smirk on her face, "Commander Marcus, we've been ready since we left Council space."
Suddenly, Velictus looked like he had forgotten something as he got out of the chair and motioned to Benezia.
"You enjoy the jumps more than I do Matriarch, I think the final approach to human space is yours."
Benezia nodded, unlatched and pulsed blue a moment as she gracefully floated out of her seat and into the one adjacent to Marcus'. Velictus made a much less graceful move to now unoccupied chair while mumbling about his null-gravity.
With a chuckle, the seats turned back forward and they were treated to a view of the gas giant and it's moons slowly coming into view. The gas giant a reddish smudge with points of light that were its moons to each side of it.
With a thought, the destination changed to the next system and he engaged the FSD.
"Next jump puts us in the Pleiades sector. We'll be getting a good view of some much younger stars now. Larger too."
They all watched as the numbers counted down, the four of them would know how to count down from five in English at the very least once this was all over and done with.
As the surge built and finally burst into hyperspace, Marcus flexed his fingers on the controls as he watched the colors and lights go by.
A second passed.
Then another.
Then a third.
A bit of concern crept up into Marcus as the jump passed what felt right. His hand tightened on the controls just as the first errors popped up and the ship shook.
He could hear the hull flex as the the hud's projections flickered, double images trying to coalesce into the correct projection. Looking outside the ship he couldn't hear the exclamations of the others on the bridge as the view spun and he felt his stomach drop when he saw the error.
"Unstable Hyperspace Corridor."
The sounds on the bridge broke through his confusion, Benezia was holding on tightly to the chair and asking in a raised and worried voice.
"Marcus, what is happening?!"
As the ship tumbled through hyperspace, they were all about thrown across the bridge as there was a loud burst of noise as the ship snapped back into normal space.
Marcus jammed on his controls, hoping it was just a malfunction in the FSD and not what he thought it was. He managed to stop the ship from tumbling before all the power suddenly cut out and he suddenly felt much colder.
"Oh...shit."
Those two words from him caught the undivided attention of the four aliens he had on the bridge.
Benezia's face was tight with concern, "Oh no what Commander Marcus? What was that?"
"Remember those aliens I said Professor Palin studies? I knew I should have kept my mouth shut..." Marcus heard some cursing behind him.
He looked back to see Uolon and Odoln shaking their arms before Odoln looked up at him and then to Benezia.
"Matriarch, our Omni-tools are not working. Whatever knocked out power was…."
They all felt it before they saw or heard it. From the left side of the ship it moved into view, the stuttered, deep clicking vibrating noises that they felt in their bones as they watched it move.
They all watched as the strangely organic, ship moved in front of them and turned. The ship had eight petal-shaped sections radiating from a central orb. The hull was mottled greenish-dark green colors with lights along one edge of each of the petal-shapes. There were distortions in space behind it, obvious by the waving and flickering light of the stars it passed.
"Marcus...is that?"
The ship paused and seemed to regard them all with a cold interest.
"A Thargoid Benezia, that is a Thargoid."
Any further conversation or questions was cut short as the sounds became more intense. A series of deep, vibrating clicking was heard as the 'petals' of the ship lit up a light, sickly green color.
The petals shifted out and away from the center bulb on the ship. Everyone jumped as if they'd been shocked as twisting green light suddenly filled their entire view, the ship behind it thrumming and clicking as it swept the strange, otherworldly light across and through the ship.
Odoln managed to weakly lift his arm and attempt to activate his Omni-tool for a moment before a thought hit him.
'There's no power...how can we hear that thing.'
The light flickered and twisted across the ship as they all grit their teeth against the thrumming, clicking vibration as it continued for seconds. Marcus just sat, glaring at the ship.
Then suddenly, it stopped. The lights on the strange ship dimmed as the petals began to shift closer to the center bulb as it started to turn.
Marcus sat up and got ready to take control again to jump out of system as soon as power came back.
"I've heard of this, they pull you out of hyperspace to sca-"
He was interrupted as the ship suddenly stopped, the lights on the ship flickering on, first a light blue, then yellow, back to blue while they all endured the rapid clicking pulsing out from the ship.
"Ok, that's…"
The ship suddenly turned back to them, the petals extended out and the lights settling into a menacing red color, emanating a series of decidedly angry sounds.
Marcus jammed on the controls before pushing a few buttons frantically but futility on his chair. The other four took notice of this and shifted in their seats.
"Commander Marcus, what is going on?!" Benezia's voice had risen with concern as they all watched the strange ship. Suddenly, a number of small things burst from behind the ship and began tracing strange coordinated orbits around the ship which added a considerable layer of concern to all onboard.
Marcus was about to get out of his chair and attempt another method to restore power.
"I've never seen them attack before, I don't know!"
Suddenly there was a flash beyond the strange ship. The narrow, arrow shape of a ship could be seen that caused Marcus to pause in what he was doing. The strange ship took notice as well, the motion of the small things that it had just launched seem to increase in speed and tightened around it as it began to turn towards the newcomer.
There were three more flashes as other ships arrived. One like the first, the second, a larger, gleaming white ship of graceful curves and power. Two engine nacelles off to each side of the body. The third ship was almost as wide as it was long, blocky and resembling more of a shipping container with engines and a spoiler. The fourth ship they could barely make out, obviously smaller than the other three but it started buzzing around erratically.
The five of them were knocked out of their surprise as the first ship turned and darted towards the strange ship suddenly, large weapons folding out of the top of the ship that flashed suddenly. The flash of light and lurching motion of the strange ship seemed to break whatever the ship had done to power down the ship.
The lights on the bridge flickered back on and tests flashed by as the ship did emergency diagnostics. Marcus watched the progress anxiously while keeping an eye on the ships outside. The strange ship having abandoned whatever it had planned for them in favor of fighting the newcomers.
The lights flickered back on and she couldn't help but watch as the four new ships began dancing around the strange ship, the flash of shields, the impact of weapons on the strange ship. The large ships moving much more like fighters than the ships of that size she was used to seeing. Glittering bits of the greenish-organic hull spun off into space from the Thargoid before she suddenly felt the ship move.
The view of the fighting ships panned out of view as she heard the engines on Marcus' ship build to full power as she was pressed into her chair. She looked over at Marcus, whose hands were working furiously over the controls that she and the other three could no longer see.
She looked out at where they were going but while she could see through the viewports, there was no more information than any other area they had been able to see before the strange ship had powered down his ship.
"Marcus, what-" She was interrupted as the ship shuddered and she saw a blue light flash to one side of them followed by a string of what she could only assume were in his native language and from the pace and vehemence he was saying them, quite colorful.
Just then she heard a shift in the tone of the engines, as if something was building up. She pressed back into her seat, gripping the arm rests as she began to hope the ship wasn't going to explode when suddenly it felt as if someone had dropped a building on her.
She heard herself wheeze as the air was force out of her and the edges of her vision began to rapidly darken before it suddenly relented.
She felt she would have rebounded out of the seat because of how hard she had resisted the sudden weight but was kept in as the chair had molded around her. Now she gasped for air as lights danced in her eyes.
There was a small, brief shudder that she barely registered and she felt all weight lift off her. The lights faded and she could make sense of what she was seeing again as the ship turned.
For a moment the only sound was the ship, the ever-present background hum of the ship as it traveled.
Then she heard some noise and looked back to see Odoln and Velictus getting up and rushing back to Uolon. He was floating up and away from the back wall.
"Uolon! Uolon, c'mon, say something." Velictus reached him and with one hand grabbing onto one of the hand holds on the wall, the other reached out and pulled Uolon towards Velictus and Odoln. The latter, looking all business with a hint of relief as he brought his arm up and his Omni-tool lit up.
Uolon stirred at the motion and voice of Velictus as Odoln waved his Omni-tool over him. Benezia kept quiet as she watched.
"Is he ok?" She looked back over suddenly at Marcus who had turned his seat to face back, getting up out of his chair and gliding back towards them.
Odoln didn't look up from his Omni-tool as he scanned him. "Concussion, loss of consciousness from sudden and extreme acceleration. He will survive and recover."
Benezia drifted out of her chair towards them.
"Commander Marcus, do Thargoids always attack like that? You seemed quite surprised when it turned back towards us."
Marcus floated near the four of them, holding on to the ceiling as Velictus and Benezia regarded him.
"No, I've only ever heard of them scanning ships and then leaving. I wasn't really worried at first. Just when it turned back."
He ran a hand back through his hair. It did not go unnoticed that it was shaking.
"Things have changed since I left the bubble. The Pleiades have been where the Thargoids have interdicted pilots in the past but the hostility?"
He was shaking his head before he looked back to Uolon who had by now, opened his eyes and seemed to be going through a series of motions to see what was hurt. He flinched as he rotated his shoulder.
Benezia looked closer at him, trying to see if he was ok.
"I'm sorry Uolon, I had to get out of there as fast as I could. I had to boost to get away from the mass lock of those ships. They were just about right in between us and the next jump or I'd have just high-waked out."
Blinking rapidly as Marcus spoke to him, "Are we out of danger now?"
"Yeah, they only interdict ships out of hyperspace jumps and I'm willing to be they'll be busy with the other ships that jumped in. I'd say we're safe."
He made his way back to his seat and sat in it, "As far as I know."
"Marcus, the Thargoids, why did they do that?"
"No clue, we fought a war with them a while back. They'd been quiet until they started scanning us and running. They knock the power out on the ship they interdict which is nerve wracking enough."
He began to work the controls again, his hands working over the projections they couldn't see.
"Marcus, could you…" He turned to look at her, she motioned towards the area the hud projections had been. He looked confused for a moment before looking back down at the screens he could see and back at her.
After a moment she heard him apologize and the projections popped back into view.
"Ok, we were lucky the other Commanders showed up." A message popped up, written in English.
"They're apparently hunting the Thargoid, or as they call them, the bugs. Saved our asses, that's for sure."
He watched as Uolon pushed away from the wall and drifted back to where he had been before the whole fiasco.
Marcus looked him over, "Are you sure you're ok? Odoln said you would be alright and would recover."
Uolon nodded, "Yes, bruised and rattled but will be fine. Do you have a way to prevent that from happening again?"
Marcus shook his head, "No, I'll get in touch with those other Cmdrs to see if they'll be willing to follow us to Palin's base though. Chase off any other Thargoids if needed. If they agree."
"Those were other Commanders, this far from the bubble?" Benezia's concern was trumped by her curiosity.
Marcus nodded, "If the 'goids are active around here, I imagine there's a more than a few of us flying around the Pleiades looking for them. The war was not a good one…."
He turned his seat around as he said that, trailing off as he switched between screens.
Benezia looked back at the other three, all with the same concern written on her face. This would complicate things.
Marcus was still thinking of new ways to curse, insult, or otherwise defame the damn Thargoids. Not only was just getting interdicted by them a great way to screw things up, then they apparently decided they were in a shooting war!
He grimaced as the thought of getting blown up ten jumps from bringing Benezia and the others to Palin as the connection he had sent out finally opened.
'CMDR, I'll thank you again for helping me out just now. I've been out of the bubble for months and months and didn't realize that the Pleiades were a Thargoid shooting gallery. Did you manage to murder the damn thing?'
'I'd say your welcome but it was really just a happy accident. Yes, we did get the bug. A couple of its buddies jumped in near the end though so we bugged out - haha - If you've not been in the bubble for a while you may want to get the hell out of the pleiades. Damn bugs are showing up with a bigger bite and no exploracanda's gonna survive.'
'Damn, any new insults we have for them? I've got to get to Professor Palin and it's pretty time-sensitive. How much for you to wing up with us to get us there?'
'Us?'
Marcus grimaced, while in the past he had another pilot along to fly a fighter, no one ever really took a fighter out exploring and he didn't want to try to explain who was with him.
'Eh, me, been out in the black too long, my ship doesn't talk much but she takes good care of me.'
'You explorers are weird but you did just win me a hundred credits. Price to wing up and escort you to Palin's - fifteen million OR five million and your exploration data. Fairly reasonable considering how treacherous this cluster can be nowadays. It'd break my heart to find your wreckage and have to scoop your black box. Damn shame that'd be.'
Marcus stared at the message trying to calm down, unsuccessfully however as he slammed his fist on the chair and nearly yelling.
"Fucking murderhobos!"
His anger was interrupted when he heard Benezia ask what was wrong, his outburst having interrupted the quiet conversation they had been having amongst themselves.
He mumbled an apology before going back to the message.
'Five million now good enough a down payment? I'll pay the rest once we get to Palin's'
'Five now? The rest after you get your pretty little ship down to Palin's. Don't worry if you 'forget' to pay the rest. I've got buddies that'll be more than happy to remind you all around there.'
Marcus blinked at the wing request and with a command, sent the five million credits.
Suddenly the wing voice channel opened and he quickly sent a command to keep it off the intercom. He didn't really want the Council ambassadors to know he'd have to rely on a pirate to get him to Palin's
'HA! Haha! Now c'mon, let's get this show on the road! I've still got some bugs I want to get to today. Jump to the next system. Anything happens in this one, we'll be on the bugs like stink on biowaste.'
With a twinge of regret Marcus accepted the situation and aimed at the destination system. The other four's conversation died down as the computer voiced the FSD and countdown.
"We've got an escort for the last jumps we'll meet in the next system."
The countdown almost reached the end, "Sorry about everything, just been away too long."
Anything they said in response was drowned out as they time, Marcus wasn't as enthusiastic about the last leg of the trip.
His bridge was a bit of a mess there were stains on the surfaces, empty food canisters floated around, a few personal weapons could be seen floating around bumping into things. He didn't really care, he'd been in the ship for longer than he was used to but considering he held his ships with about as much regard as he did ammo for his weapons, he didn't really bother cleaning up. The Viper would explode soon anyway.
He watched the readout on the members of his wing, his current three 'companions' were waiting near him. One he wasn't actively planning on killing, although he still had a plan to do so, the other two he'd give a try once he got bored hunting the bugs.
The name on the list he was interested in however, was the new addition. His thoughts were interrupted when a voice cut into his musings.
"Hey boss, when we jumping this guy?" A vicious smile cut it's way across his face, bags under his eyes that were nearly covered by his ragged and oily hair that fell forward as he looked down at the radar hud showing where the other ships were.
"Oh, I don't know, I thought I'd go straight for a while. Help a fellow Commander out to really….ah...a-tone for mah sins." The smile never left his face.
There was a burst of noise as the other two joined the channel and were laughing as hard as they could.
After a moment it died down, "Seriously."
That prompted him to actually put some thought into it, he hadn't planned to shoot him when he offered. It had really just been a whim that he threw out the offer. A bit of easy credits. Most explorers either just ran or didn't put up a fight. Sometimes he could get the data and make something off it, other times not. He'd already made more than he'd thought he would so far today.
"We took his money, we'll get him where he's going, then he pays us and we go back to the bugs. Or he doesn't and we rifle through his pockets. Preferably with something large-caliber."
"Ha! Easy enough"
The channel lit up with one of the two he planned on trying to kill later, "That you're plan? That's what the Commander Gr-"
"AH-AH-AH fuck-o" He targeted the Cutter, closing distance and circling behind it, "You don't say my name. I'm boss to you unless you'd like to add a killmark to my ship?"
"Whatever." The channel cut but the Cutter sat in space and they were all quiet until he decided there was no fun to be had yet. He stopped circling the larger ship and un-targeted it.
"They've landed the next system over and there's nothing on them, we've got nine more of these. So start the clock, twenty minutes until we're shooting something."
Seconds later, four flashes left the system empty.
He walked over to the table at the far end of the medium sized hangar. The training Python taking up the majority of the 100m x 70m hangar. He watched as the six of them walked around the FSD pulled out of the ship before coming together near the subsystem he'd asked about.
The holographic overlay of the components hung in the air as he watched the group talk amongst themselves quietly. A frown made its way to his face, the question he asked shouldn't have taken this long. One of the hopefuls stole a glance his way and stiffened when she saw his frown.
Shaking his head slightly he set the data pad down, he didn't really need it but he had liked this group so he had decided to not use the "unnerving, critical Professor" act. Something he was reconsidering before his attention was interrupted by the muted pull as his mindcom signaled him that one of his provenly-competent aides had a message for him.
He dismissed it as he walked slowly towards the woman that had glanced a moment ago, intent on seeing why the six of them couldn't answer his question. This test was a critical one if they hoped to be employed at his base assisting him in the upgrades he offered. Services he offered mainly to get the Pilot's Federation's Commanders to do the sourcing for the harder-to-get components for him. That he got to put his wisened Professor face on and teach on occasion was a bit of a bonus.
"It was really a simple question. Why? Do we use the Selenium in the heat dispersion plate and not in the heat exchangers?"
Another pull from his mindcom, this time with an added urgency. His right eye twitched slightly as he dismissed it again, keeping his focus on the six of them. He looked between them as they fidgeted a bit, the woman went to say something before he cut her off, leaning in to the group slightly as he did.
"If you want to work within this Institute, I expect you to know off the top of your head. You all have been fitted with mindcoms, if you don't know it, run a query."
A message notice suddenly overlayed part of his vision, obscuring the face of one of the students to his left. He sighed as he recalled his order to his aide to not be disturbed while assessing the small group of junior engineers.
He leaned back and clasped his hands behind his back, "I did not pay for them for you to not use them."
He turned and made for the door leading out, "I will be back, proceed through the next section of the FSD but stop before you make it to the mass systems. They're too delicate with the tools we have right now."
As he passed the threshold of the door and it slid shut behind him, he went to open the message and had started to read it while he turned the first corner towards his office when he ran into his aide, knocking him back a step. The aide stumbled back a bit over the crates of tools and supplies that were lined up on one side of the large corridor.
His frown deepening after the small disappointment of the six engineers he had just left, he waited for his aide to compose himself.
"Daniel, I told you I didn't want to be disturbed unless there were either Federation, Empire, or Thargoid ships knocking on our door."
"I know and it's not any of those three but...well, it was a Commander. He found something."
His interest was piqued, Daniel was accomplished in his own right and he actually trusted him with the oversight of some of his Thargoid projects. If he said something had been found then it was bound to be at least worth his time.
Although, "Something? They're always finding 'something'. You'll have to be a bit more specific…"
He trailed off as he saw something in Daniel's hand he hadn't noticed before, a palm-sized grey disk with a dial on it. He caught a glimpse of the words "Heavier" and "Lighter" on it before Daniel reached over and placed it on one if the crates with a small clunking sound as if it was magnetic.
His eyebrow raised as Daniel turned the dial to "Lighter", when Daniel let go of the device there was a pause as he looked up at him and he could see the excited look on his face. Suddenly he felt the hair on his arm closest to the crate raise slightly and a wispy, blue glow surrounded the crate as it floated up slowly off the floor.
For the first time in a while, he could genuinely say he was surprised as he experimentally pushed the crate and it bounced of the one behind it and drifted up like it was in null-g.
He looked up at Daniel with, now actually excited, "How?!"
"The message I sent you? A Commander made….first contact with someone. He wouldn't say who or what but he did say they gave him this to give to you to get your attention." Daniel now had a goofy smile on his face as he pushed the crate up towards the ceiling.
"Where are they now?"
Daniel took his eyes off the crate and his face straightened out, "Large dock hangar, he's in an Anaconda but wouldn't leave his ship."
He watched the crate for a second before answering, "If he's got more of this." he motioned at the floating crate, "I can understand him not wanting to leave."
They were interrupted by a small chirping sound, drawing their eyes to the device on the crate as a red overlay began to flash along with the chirp. Both of them began to back up as the beeping got faster before a final flash of red. The blue haze that had surrounded the crate blinked out and the crate smashed into the floor on its edge.
Daniel stepped closer and he heard the device drop to the floor. He stepped to the side the device had been attached to and got to see the dent in the alloy flooring of the corridor the crate had made when it fell.
"What was in that crate?"
Daniel tried to flip the crate back up to look in it but couldn't move it. He stood back up and flipped through something with his mindcom, the far-off look he got when doing so, finally stopping and focused back on Palin, reading the entry he had been looking for.
"It has 800 kgs of the high-density composites…" Daniel looked back at the small device in his hand and then up to him.
Nodding, Palin turned and made for the large pad hangars, Daniel falling in behind him.
"Well, let's go meet this Commander…" Glancing over expectantly at his aide.
"Commander Rein, Marcus Rein."
"Commander Rein, also, lock down his hangar. Use the corrosive cargo protocols. I want to know what Commander Rein has before anyone else gets involved."
Marcus closed the station services menu and watched as the mechanical arms folded out from the ceiling and went about the rapid work of applying the paint to his ship. Cheap and it didn't really make a difference but with his guests he didn't want Lucy to be looking shoddy for longer than necessary.
The painting took a handful of seconds. It was the basic paint job but that step never took too long. He heard a few muted clunks as the hull integrity and power plant went through the process of being repaired as well.
He turned when he saw Benezia sit back in the seat next to his.
"I have to say, I'm hoping Spectre Odoln's idea with that Mass Effect device catches Palin's attention. I really don't want to try to walk all of you off the ship to get their attention."
"Since your species is unable to manipulate mass in any way, I think it will be a suitable demonstration. It is common place for us but so are your hyperspace-capable ships to you and that caught our attention."
She raised an eyebrow at him as she said that and he couldn't help but to laugh a bit, "Yeah, I'm just worried someone will do something stupid with it. Put it on themselves and turn it all the way up."
Oldon walked up behind the two of them, looking out as the hangar bay continued the work Marcus had ordered.
"It was hastily fabricated but there are failsafes. It must be on a solid surface and flat." He opened his Omni-tool and showed Marcus the design again like he had when he brought the idea up.
"Eh, it's just a thought -" He was cut off as suddenly lights started flashing in the hangar and he stood up just in time to see emergency doors shut over the doors leading out of the hangar. Mechanical sounds thudded through the ship as the work being done was interrupted.
Suddenly, projected screens popped up at each console, A Yellow and black notice with the words "Corrosive Cargo Lockdown" In large, bold letters.
Marcus looked across his bridge and then back to Benezia and Odoln, the other two rushing up to see what was happening.
"Well, I think we got their attention."
Marcus sat back down and began to go through his cargo tab, lingering on the 2-ton cargo container marked salvage. The memory of the shuttle drifting out of a large alien ship came to his mind before he was interrupted.
"Commander Marcus, it appears there is someone here to see us."
Marcus got up and looked out where Odoln was looking, seeing two people standing just inside the door he had just seen sealed. After a moment he recognized one of them as Professor Palin.
"HA! They got the message it seems." He turned and motioned for the door on the bridge, "Well, let's not keep them waiting!"
Palin watched as the ramp lowered and someone, he assumed Commander Rein, walked down the ramp with a bit of swagger. He and his assistant met the Commander under the nose of the Anaconda.
Reaching his hand out to shake hands, "Commander Rein, I admit, I don't usually take my time to meet face-to-face but this," he waves the now inert device, "certainly got my attention."
The Commander grinned at that, "Well, yeah, not my idea but I'm glad it worked. I'll have to thank Odoln for that."
"Odoln?" An odd name but he'd heard stranger although it was odd that an explorer would take another pilot with them.
"So what can you tell me about where you found this? I've not had the chance to take it apart yet to see how it works but anti-gravity could be very useful."
Another grin, "Well, I didn't find that actually. Odoln built it. He's one of the four new, uh, friends I made."
Palin just raised an eyebrow at that.
"...How about I just let you meet them?"
Before he could interject, Commander Rein turned and said something in a language he'd never heard before. It actually sounded rather odd coming from him in that it was a breathy and melodic language.
Turning his attention to the ramp as he heard footsteps and saw the legs of those coming out to meet him. He took a step back as the figures made their way down the ramp, surprise rising alarmingly as he realized the legs weren't the right shape..
The first being down the ramp was tall and oddly proportioned. The knee joint bent back the wrong direction along with an extra joint. The chest of the being was narrow and sunken while the limbs muscled weirdly. The biggest surprise for him was the head, more specifically the face.
Large eyes darted around, looking at everything, set in a head with two fleshy horns, no nose, and a low-set, wide, and thin mouth. As the alien finished its look around he met its eyes and could almost feel himself being appraised. The alien's gaze held for a second before it seemed to nod and step to the side, somehow exuding an aura of awareness and casual competence.
The second one down was, if anything, more startling. They could have passed for a woman if it weren't for the blue skin, lack of ears, and weird ridges instead of hair. He met her deep, blue eyes for a moment and suddenly felt very much like he had when meeting with his older colleagues. Her eyes had a depth to them that only living a very long time could produce although what appeared to be a smirk on her face at his reaction.
She approached him and after he finally tore his eyes from hers, he noticed another alien much like the first behind and to one side of the blue alien, the fourth was another shock.
The last alien seemed to be the most...alien out of all of them. The first thing about it was that it was tall, at least a head above the other three. Greyish skin with large scales covered it's body with the face seemingly comprised of small, movable scales if the expression it wore was any indication. The flat face with two hard, movable protrusions off to each side combined with being able to see it's teeth set Palin on edge slightly. The small, deep-set eyes looked him over as well before taking his place slightly behind and to the other side of the blue alien.
His eyes darted between the four aliens but was interrupted by an odd growling, whistling chirp from the last alien, quickly followed by the same sounding language that the Commander had spoken right before the aliens came down the ramp. Although it was flatter and seemed to come from a band on it's wrist.
Commander Rein answered the whistle-chirp alien in the strange language again and to his intense surprise, the alien seemed to laugh quietly to itself!
The sound of someone clearing their throat broke him from his surprised stupor.
"He said 'I think we broke him'" He stared at the Commander for a moment before realizing his mouth was open, closing it quickly.
"Commander, these are aliens!" He motioned at them offhandedly.
"And your powers of perception are finely honed I see! Yes, I met them while out exploring. Ah, in case you didn't hear, The first one is Spectre Odoln, he's the one that made that device. The second is Matriarch Benezia T'Soni. Then you have Uolon and Velictus."
He pointed at each of them, "Salarian, Asari, Salarian, Turian."
There was a moment as Palin took this in as Commander Rein stood there with a smug look on his face.
"Work enough for the day don't you think Professor?"
"Work? YES! You met a race, no, three races of aliens! They're friendly I assume?" His excitement quickly built as it all sank in. They weren't Thargoids but he wasn't too interested in having four of those in his hangar.
"Yes, quite friendly so far. There are some that aren't, some are quite the shitheads actually but we'll get to that, none of those are with me."
Palin's next question was interrupted by the blue alien speaking in the same language the Commander had spoken but in a decidedly more enjoyable tone.
"Commander, I don't know how you can speak their language but it sounds much, much better coming from that one than you."
The Commander seemed flustered for a moment.
"She's an Asari, Matriarch T'Soni." He responded before turning to the her and speaking to her again. She suddenly looked a bit embarrassed! He could actually tell that she looked embarrassed before she responded and the four aliens seemed to get a bit of amusement at what was said.
The moment passed quickly before she straightened and her face took on a decidedly official look, he did the same on reflex. It seemed it was down to business then.
The language she spoke again sounded beautiful to him and he recognized the word human but little else. Once she stopped he was about to ask the Commander to translate before he began to do so.
"She bids you welcome and asks that you help her and her companions setup an official first contact with the Human governments." Commander Rein had a bit of a smile on his face.
"From what I understand she's a fairly accomplished and respected figure in their government with full power to arrange an amiable meeting."
The Asari continued and Commander Rein translated, "We of the Citadel Council greet you in the name of peace and mutual prosperity."
Palin processed what he heard, "While I do not represent my species governments I do have the ability to contact them about this. We can move to a more comfortable location if you'd like while I get in touch with them."
The Commander's low voice translated for him and she smiled and responded. The sound the Commander made after she had spoken caught all but her by surprise. The almost startled cry drew his attention and he was rather surprised and confused to see a look of almost panic on the Commander's suddenly pale face.
He choked out a quiet reply as the Asari turned to Commander Marcus, a worried look on her face (It was unnerving how human she looked)
The two spoke quickly and quietly to each other and while Palin couldn't understand, she seemed to be apologizing to the Commander while asking him for something. After a pause while the Commander seemed to think and regain his color, he shook his head, mumbled something to her and composed himself.
"Professor Palin, there is a way for you to learn their languages quickly. It's how I...learned...it. My experience was extremely, uh" He seemed to fidget a bit before continuing, "uncomfortable but Benezia is quite insistent that my experience was unique and extreme."
"What do you mean?"
"I-well, they can, the Asari I mean, they can do some sort of 'meld' that lets two people pass information between each other. Apparently regardless of species."
"What happened to you that you seem so shaken up mentioning it?"
Commander Rein just shook his head, "I'm not going to talk about it now but I'd suggest your assistant try first."
Palin suddenly remembered that Daniel had come in with him and looked over at his assistant, not at all surprised to seem him paying full attention to what was happening with a data pad in hand.
"Daniel, are you willing to do this 'meld'?"
To his credit, he didn't even hesitate, "Yes Professor, it could be dangerous," the three of them didn't miss the Commander barely flinch at that, "but this is first contact with a friendly group of aliens!"
He hit a few things on his datapad and stepped forward purposefully to stand in front of the Asari. Marcus spoke to her quietly and took a step back and turned away. He would really have to ask him about what happened. She threw him an apologetic look before stepping closer to Daniel, putting her hands on each side of his head, and closing her eyes.
When she opened her eyes again, he was curious to see that they were now entirely black as she spoke something that, even him not understanding the language, seemed to hold weight. As soon as she did, both her and Daniel stopped moving entirely. They didn't stiffen, they just...stopped moving. The subtle motion of a bipedal being balancing while standing stopped and they were statues.
Palin watched for a moment before opening his mindcom and pulling up the cameras for the hangar they were in, he could see them all standing there and he confirmed it was and had been recording before cutting off the feed. Putting his attention back to the two of them, he stepped closer.
Before he got too close however, they both suddenly relaxed, she closed her eyes and when she opened them they were back to the blue they had been.
He looked to Daniel and was very surprised when he, with a giddy look on his face, said something in her language! She smiled and answered before the other aliens spoke. The two...Salarians he recalled, had a squeaky, rapid-fire language but to his surprise, Daniel nodded at what they said and then tried to answer in the same language. Much to the alien's amusement. The Asari said something and Daniel nodded and answered the Salarian in the Asari language. The same thing was repeated to the tall alien before Daniel looked back to him.
"Professor, I can understand all of them! I can't speak all of their languages but I can understand them! It was incredible, our minds connected and she...er, taught me all the languages. Not really taught, it was more like I just remembered them from her but still, most of the time in the Meld was spent with me thinking about English."
"Wait, she knows English now?"
He jumped at the voice that spoke next, the Asari had a very regal tone to her voice that pulled his attention to it.
"Yes Professor Palin, I have as much a grasp on the English language now as I do any of my other languages."
Holding out her hand, she continued, "I am Matriarch Benezia T'Soni, you may call me Matriarch T'Soni as is traditional in our culture."
He shook her hand gently, "That is incredible! Very pleased to meet you, you may call me Professor or simply Palin. I look forward to discussing the how of the 'meld' but before that, we really should make our way to my office, it's much more comfortable than this hangar Matriarch T'Soni."
"If I may take a moment to transfer my understanding of English to my companions then I will be happy for us to go."
He nodded and she went to each of the other aliens, her eyes going black although this time, for his benefit he assumed, he heard her declare "Embrace Eternity" in english each time.
Once finished, she turned to him and he motioned for them all to follow Daniel. As he turned to walk in-step with Matriarch T'Soni, he noticed that Commander Rein, who had walked a distance away from them and was now coming back.
He waved to him, "You're invited as well Commander, come! I imagine there's a lot to discuss."
He saw Commander Rein nod and follow, the Salarian who had been down the ramp first fell in next to him and they all made their way through his base.
He heard some quiet question from the Salarian parroted in the Asari's speech that the Commander answered.
"No, not that, just...it's out of my hands now huh?
A look passed over his face before Palin suddenly saw an incoming notification. A cargo transfer with a message.
'They're friendly enough and I'm really interested in how this will all go but I did meet them after I got caught in a pirate attack in their space. I mention that because I don't think they know that I've picked up a smaller ship of the pirate's. If I'm correct it has an example of their engines, FTL, shields, and weapons. I feel a bit bad about it but something made me keep from mentioning it. I've transferred it to you since you're setup to study alien stuff.
Hope this won't blow up in our face
-Marcus
Palin blinked the message away and made note that Commander Rein basically ignored him as he passed by him in the doorway, Palin stepping through after him. As the doors closed, he sent the command and the transfer was accepted and he lifted the lockdown.
The day just got better for Professor Ishmael Palin.
White House - Olympus Mons - Mars (10 hours later)
Within the heavily fortified but aesthetically pleasing White House of the Federation, behind the doors the public never saw behind and where most of the actual work of administering the Federation went on, things were calm. Everyone went about their business like usual. All except a select few that had received a message. The individual in charge of vetting messages that were bound for the President was in an uproar when a message was received from one Professor Palin. He quickly sent his assistant to the President to clear his schedule while he gathered what he needed.
The assistant was nearly running through the halls, weaving around the other employees and members of the current administration without raising any eyebrows. There was always some aide or assistant darting through the crowds, always something vitally important to someone behind these locked doors.
As the assistant approached the large, ornate doors leading into President Hudson's office, she stopped for a moment to gather her wits and process through the security. Submitting to the requirements and a quick flash of the datapad she carried with the coded level of urgency received a nod from the two security guards on each side of the doors. She waited nervously as they sent the notice and waited for the President to allow access.
She resisted the urge to fidget while she waited and nearly jumped when the doors suddenly swung open and she heard the President call her to enter.
In a rush she moved to the front of the desk, the President was finishing typing something up, finishing as she stopped.
"Mr. President, we've received a message from The Palin Institute, from Professor Palin specifically. The Secretary of Communications directed me to pass this to you and urge you to clear your schedule to see him. He's gathering what he needs to present a clearer picture. We've had contact with aliens." She held out the datapad to him.
The President raised an eyebrow and was about to say something before his gaze settled on the datapad, surprise showing in his eyes as he noticed the urgency. He snatched the pad from the assistant and pressed his thumb to the pad, confirming it was him about to read it.
Security protocols engaged, the doors to his office swung shut with a muffled whump of displaced air, the assistant did jump and let out a small sound of surprise. They both felt their hairs raise for a second as a shield was activated around the room. The President didn't spare a glance at her as he read the synopsis of the message received but as he reached the end he frowned.
He looked the Secretary's assistant dead in the eye, "He is absolutely sure about this?"
The assistant nodded, "Yes Mr. President."
The President stood turned back to his terminal and sent out a message calling for an quiet but urgent meeting with his cabinet.
After doing that, he looked back to the assistant with a much more intense look than what she was comfortable with, "Take a seat over there, I trust you understand to stay quiet about all of this?"
The assistant could only nod.
Imperial Palace - Capital (1 hour after Message was received)
At the same time the President convened his cabinet, light years away the Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval had done much the same, having received the same message.
She looked out at all of the Senators in the secret session, dragging the moment out before she began.
"Senators of the Empire, today we are faced with a monumental event! I have, just an hour ago, received word from the Palin Institute, from Ishmael Palin himself, that a Commander has recently returned from the dark."
She paused again, a bit of theatrics and gravitas was due for something like this.
"He returned not only with word of meeting, but with members of no less than three of ten alien species!"
Immediately there was an uproar, quickly silenced with a subdued but noticeable motion from the Emperor. After the noise died down, she continued.
"The same message I received was sent to both the Federation and the Alliance leaders. I have communicated with them and it has been agreed that this will be kept in the strictest of confidence and secrecy until more is known."
"Given the fact that all three human powers are aware of this, we have agreed to send an ambassadorial team to the...neutral location of the Palin Institute to conduct the initial contact."
Murmuring could be heard as the Senators all talked amongst themselves for a moment, drowned out as the Emperor continued.
"As we prepare for this historic meeting, let us not forget the lessons of the past nor what future we want for ourselves. Temper your minds, your expectations, and if necessary, your swords."
The murmuring picked up, gaining volume as the Senators considered what their Emperor was telling them.
"But above all else, ready yourselves! This may be a dawning of a new age for us all!"
"Long live the Empire!"
The cry, "Long Live the Emperor!" Echoed back to her.
Alioth System - Garden City (4 Hours later)
Edmund Mahon looked over the message again as the ambassadorial team left the room. As the door whispered shut he took a moment to really reflect on the enormity of what was happening. His head spun a bit before he grimaced.
He and much of his government would have liked to have taken more time with everything but no, the Federation and the Empire were rushing to the Maia system to meet with Palin and the aliens. He looked back to the data pad and corrected himself, the Council ambassadors.
Now the Alliance was forced to rush a delegation to meet them as well and since the Federation and Empire would no doubt be making a show, he had to authorize the use of one of their newest mega-ships. It would be a rush but he felt confident that the timeline that Palin had put forward to the three powers would be met.
A smirk made its way onto his face as he tossed the datapad onto the table and got up to leave the room.
'At least this is better than the budget meetings that were scheduled.'
Palin Research Centre - Maia System (2 days later)
Marcus followed Palin up to the observation room, Benezia and the others entering the room and looking around excitedly after them.
"So they're going to arrive in a few minutes, I figured you'd all like to see their ships arrive. They said they'd all be arriving right around each other."
What he didn't say was that doing so suggested the three powers were actually coordinating which was a bit of a surprise.
'Then again, the idea of an alien conglomerate waiting to meet the species might have lit something of a fire under their asses.'
Palin turned to them, "You'll notice when they arrive you'll hear them arrive as well, we keep auditory simulations running to provide notice. It helps to keep from any sort of dissonance as well. Seeing but not hearing, same thing used on the ships to keep pilots from going crazy."
Marcus coughed, "Well, more crazy." That got a chuckle out of all of them.
Palin shook his head and pointed out the window, "They'll arrive a few kilometers above the surface there so we should be able to get a good view."
Odoln smirked at the tactic and spoke in passable english, "A bit of a show for the visiting dignitaries Professor?"
Palin turned to him and smiled, "Never hurts to show off a bit for the new arrivals, besides, it means the major powers are taking this seriously. They don't try to impress lightly."
Suddenly the intercom interrupted, "Capital ship arriving"
They could see, a few kilometers up a dark cloud seemed to drift out of nothing, bolts of electricity arcing within the cloud as it expanded followed by a low dirge of sound punctuated by the pop-crackle of the lightning.
A moment later Palin and Marcus smirked and shared a look as they heard the gasps as a Federation Farragut Battlecruiser slid out of the dark cloud, the dirge getting deeper and almost bone-rattling before cutting off as the ship left hyperspace completely.
"Capital ship arriving"
All their eyes darted over as another dark, charged cloud materialized and the same dirge sounded across the deck. Only this time sounds of appreciation were heard as a Majestic-class Interdictor slid out of the cloud along-side the Farragut.
Palin checked the time on his mindcom, "And the Alliance should arrive…"
Suddenly there was an intense flash of light, all of them blinked and looked away for a moment. Looking back they were treated to the sight of an Alliance mega-ship arranged nearly a kilometer away from the other two.
Marcus looked back at Benezia and the others, Benezia did a good job of hiding it but he thought he could tell she was at least a little impressed. Odoln was thoughtful but the other two were almost openly surprised and impressed.
"Not a bad show huh?"
Benezia nodded, "Impressive ships as well Marcus"
Palin stepped forward, "Well, we can head to the conference room prepared for this, the ambassadors will arrive shortly."
Behind him they could all see smaller ships leave the larger ships heading in this direction before they all turned, Palin's assistant leading the way to the conference room.
"I'm sure they're all as excited to meet you as you are to meet all of them."
Author's Note: Well, there, we're back in the bubble! Now for a bit of mind blowing on both sides again and a setup for...finally, the meeting between the Elite: Dangerous governments and the Council!
How will they react?
What will they say?!
WHAT IS THE AVERAGE LANDSPEED OF AN UNLADEN SWALLOW?!
Tune in next(next) week to find out!