The Overlook; Turian scouting ship
Lieutenant Victus Adrian sat quietly at his desk in the Captain's quarters, while he was technically not the rank that was in the name, he still enjoyed the room. The chair was comfortable enough and it was rather quiet. Perfect for reading reports and assignments.. Speaking of which, that's exactly what he was doing at the moment, reading reports before he looked at his newest assignment for his policing fleet.
He picked up a datapad containing a report. Well, pirate activity near the Attican Traverse 'Huh' he thought to himself in the quiet room 'Guess I might end up on a patrol near there then.' That was fine with him, he would take any chance to uphold the Law in a heartbeat with pride. In fact, when he got in his older years he planned on joining C-Sec. He didn't want to end up behind a desk. Ironic how he was at a desk at the moment, but he was still in a dreadnaught ready to bring pirates to justice.
He set the report datapad down and picked up the datapad that held his police fleet's new patrol route. He wasn't surprised in the slightest when, in fact, his police fleet was to patrol the edge of the Attican verse, although surprisingly his fleet would be flying by a Relya. "Guess command knows me all too well.' he thought with a bit of humor. He got up, his back popping slight. He hmpfed lightly 'Guess I'll be joining C-sec quicker than I thought I would.' He was getting around sixty years old, not the oldest mind you but he was getting there. He began his walk to the bridge, he had a fleet to command, he had scum to bring justice to.
V-92 Val'Kin Exploration Scuttler
Rikvul was not in command of a scuttler at the moment, he was not surrounded by six other Val'Kin who were working diligently, yet hopelessly at their stations, not to mention the ship's own Val'Kin. Though she was only there if his crew were out of commission. No, he was on Velkania with his friend, Vuller, and they were both on a hike deep into the forest near their homes.
Tall thin tree with large light blue oval leaves blocked out most of the sun, and while that would have made the forest cooler it was still a hot day. Though that didn't change much for either Rikvul or Vuller. No instead both continued on, long sticks in their hands poking the ground in front of them as they walked to check the ground they would be stepping on. Rikvul wasn't worried about much, his dull greyish blue metal body soaking up the heat and making him feel warmer, usually he felt cold.
Both turned quickly at the sound of a annoying, threateningly loud buzz. Much to Vuller's fear a Cull came flying out of the canopy at him, barbed stinger looking nasty in the low light and it's pincer like jaws snapping hungrily. The four foot tall flying arachnid going straight for the surprised Val'Nar. It's barbed stinger however found itself in two as it met metal and broke into two. The Cull screeched in pain until two, four fingered hands grabbed those pinchers and pried them apart and kept pulling them apart until one of the pincers torn off. Rikvul flipped the pincer in hand and stabbed it downward into the arachnids head and buried it deep.
Rikvul tossed the Cull aside, wiping to incor on his backpack. "By the Void Rikvul, Captain wake up! If you weren't here I CAPTAIN!" Vuller's voice suddenly changed from his normal masculine hoarse voice to a light feminine one with an electronic undertone. He snapped up, looking around in shock, he wasn't on Velkania, no, he was surround by concerned Val'Kin. He looked up at who had shouted him out of his lucid dream. She looked down at him, optics glowing with a green glow. She was shaking slightly, had he scared her by falling into his memories?
He was about to reassure her, she was a part of his crew after all. She was his responsibility. Just the fact that he would have been the one to scare her made him feel guilty. His thoughts were dashed apart as she spoke up. "Sir, the Scuttler's scanners are picking gravitational anomalies, either a blackhole was just born, or it's….it's ships sir." She said softly, as if she couldn't believe it herself.
He shot up, nearly hitting her as he did. "I want a full range deepscan preformed now! Get any information you can on whatever it is." He ordered as his own frame began to shake lightly. Valli almost ran back to her station to follow his order. Now he understood why Valli, his scanner operator, was shaking. LIFE! OTHER LIFE! He began a broadcast to all Val'Kin via the MiniHub that his Scuttler possessed, everyone who tuned in would see, hear, and experience exactly what he heard. Void bless Hubs.
"Valli?" He asked, at this point she was trembling, if he remembered correctly she had a fear of lucid dreaming. Always afraid that she would shut down and cease to be. It was a fear most Val'Kin shared, including him. But his memories of his friend Vuller were too fond for Rikvul to ignore. So sometimes he fell victim to his dreams. He hadn't gotten to Vuller's death, no he was lucky. He had been awakened before his memories could be completely relieved. Too many played out their lives with the Val'Nar straight to the end and it made them more emotionally damaged, some even voluntarily shut down after experiencing it far too many times.
"Captain..I-I'm picking up life signatures." Valli reported, her voice holding shock and awe, she turned to look at him. "But more than likely our deep scans were very obvious. They probably detected that they were scanned. They haven't scanned us yet so we may be out of sensor range for them." She stated, voice finally calming down, but only slightly. "Orders sir?" He felt like going for a system shock right now, it might be bad for his neural wires health, but it would at the very least calm him down and he could always get a new Frame. But he was on his second Frame and he was proud of that, He'd rather not waste Frames anyway.
"Obviously they use gravitational technology. They have to use the Gates, we know that. Our technology was made to combat aliens who use them...Make a VoidJump within their scanner range and vent our fusion coils in a pattern of fours, Keep our weapons cool and hail them on all channels available." He ordered in a stern no nonsense voice, which dropped into a hopeful tone. "This is it….First contact." He finish sinking down into his chair, his Antimatter chamber feeling like it was about to burst. He quickly did a systems check just to make sure he was fine,didn't need a meltdown here, not now.
SSV Heaven's Angel
Elizabeth Greene grumbled lightly as the alarm woke her from her sleep. She hated waking up, she also hated going to bed for the sole fact that she would have to wake up and that alone sucked enough to make her hate falling asleep. Though it could be because it was monday and for that alone she felt horrid. She tried to lick her lips, but even her tongue was dry. Can't the ship at least try to be a little humid?
She swung her legs out of the bed, the blanket falling away from her body to reveal her in her underwear as she stood up and stretched. This time her joints popped. "Damn bunks." she said letting out a sigh as she finished stretching. All around her the "Day" crew still slept soundly, seeing as she was the XO of the General Who himself was getting up at the moment she had to wake up at the same time as well.
She quickly got dressed, her uniform sharp and clean. She however still was waking up. Evidence on how she walked into the doorframe instead of through the doorway. She cursed silently as she rubbed her left eye. She quickly jogged through the corridors. She needed to get the General's coffee and her own. Sure it was like water, but it was hot water that make the day better. Although she wished for once that they would make it stronger. What the hell is the purpose of taste buds if you can't have them punched with strong coffee? Or Ice Cream for that matter, why the hell won't the Alliance stock the ship with ice cream?
She had even asked the General as a joke, he turned it around on her with the good ol' "Because you'd eat it all." Both her and the general got a good chuckle out of that one. Hell, General Smith was about the most friendly and relaxed General she had ever met…...though he was the only general she had met of course. So perhaps that was a bad example to use, but her point remained. He was pretty cool, even if he did run a tight ship.
Suddenly klaxons began to blare loudly in alarm as small red lights activated in the corridor, causing her walk to turn into a run while her face went from sleepy and calm to rigid and awake. Though….. through Alliance training she didn't spill a drop of that coffee. Which was good because when she got to the bridge General Smith did not look happy, or displeased for that matter….no...was that uncertainty?"Sir?" she asked as she held out the coffee for him to take.
Smith sighed as she handed him the coffee, watery as the military stuff was it felt normal. Something this day would not be. He knew this because his Cruiser was just scanned by an unknown….object out in space far outside the range of their own scanners...or it was stealthed and they wouldn't be able to find it. But that last option didn't fit, why scan and stay stealthed if you were just going to give yourself away? He took a sip of the coffee. He glance at the coffee cup in his hands with a look of slight disgust.
"So Greene might I ask why you brought me a hot cup of water?" he asked, causing Elizabeth to roll her eyes, he always asked the same damn thing every time. He thought it was funny, she had gotten tired of it.
"Because sir, it works better than the coffee they have stocked." She finally answered, hoping he would just answer her questioning "Sir". She took back her earlier thoughts, sometimes he could be really annoying. "Sir? Why are the klaxon blaring?"
"Ah why didn't you just ask?" He said to which caused Greene to let a small groan of annoyance to escape. "We have been scanned by an unknown outside our own scanner range." He answered "So that's the reason why. Problem is, we have no clue as to where the sc-" General smith was interrupted by an ensign at a terminal that worked with the scanners.
"Sir!" the ensign called from his post. "Something just came out of nowhere on the edge of our scanner range! Orders sir?" The Ensign asked looking at the General.
"Scan it!" The General ordered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I want any and all information you can get on whatever scanned us and I want it now! And get our shields up dammit!"
V-92 Val'Kin Exploration Scuttler
"Captain we are just in range of their scanners….Their scanning us sir." Valli reported as she worked at her station, "No warm up of weapons, but they have raised their shields. Though honestly sir, this race's tech seems….dated. Though they definitely like big ships." she added onto her report. "I don't think we could even dock to the smaller ones that flank the large one."
Rikvul dipped his head downward, he understood. "Vent our Antimatter core coils in a pattern of fours. Hail them on all available frequencies. This is it Val'Kin!" He called out to his crew and everyone at home watching. "This is first contact with another organic, race. Let's make it friendly." He ordered as he sat straighter in his chair. Time to act nice and friendly. He felt his frame shaking slightly. He might really need a tune up, Void be willing a system shock might just be fine for now. He prayed that his shaking wasn't visible. "Get us closer, not too close and go slow."
Rikvul silently wondered what these possible organics were like. Would they accept the Val'Kin? Would they fear the synthetic race? Would they attack the Val'Kin? Would they be like the opposite of the creators? Maybe just like them? One could hope couldn't they? Maybe one day he'd go on a hike with one? Vuller would have wanted that.
SSV Heaven's Angel
"General Sir, they're venting some kind of radiation on a pattern and are slowing approaching. I'm not detecting any life signs or eezo on that ship." the ensign at the scanner terminal reported, looking slight pale as he did so. General Smith nodded
"Good, no charging of weapons or shields then?" He asked staring at the small, black, and sleek ship that was getting closer. He would have never have been able to see it without the ship's holoscreen highlighting it for him
"No sir, no shields, no weapons, no life. If it wasn't doing these patterns and coming at us, a bit slowly, I'd call it a ghost ship." the ensign answered quickly, not wanting to keep the general waiting.
"Sir! The unknown ship is hailing us!" the communications ensign shouted, looking surprised at the fact. No life signs yet they were being hailed? Automated perhaps? Space vampires? Space robots? Maybe intelligent space zombies? Or they were just protected from lifesign scanners? At this point, it could be anything… "Well, answer the damn hail! And send word back home. Activate code NEW NEIGHBOR." General smith ordered
V-92 Val'Kin Exploration Scuttler
The image of the organic on the screen shocked him, it shocked his crew, it shocked just about everyone who was watching. Though that was to be expected of course, no one had seen a living organic for Void knows how long. "Void preserve us" someone to the left of him spoke quietly. Rikvul couldn't help but agree. These...organics were… organics for sure, that much he could tell. They looked a bit too much like a sick Val'Nar however. He almost recoiled when it's lips moved and it spoke. He did not like how….dead it looked yet it moved. It's eyes were so dull, it's hair was short almost to where it was bald. It even had hair on it's face!
"Is… Is it dying?" Valli asked before he hushed her with a hand held up. It was speaking, and he wanted to hear what it said. "This is General Smith of the Systems Alliance. Let me be the first to offer a hand of peace between your people and ours." The voice was strong and firm. Though it held an older touch to it and it was masculine.
"Anybody here speak alien? Maybe understand a single thing it said? I'm open to suggestions here." Rikvul asked softly as to not be heard by the alien as it spoke. He got no response from his crew, of course it was sarcastic so they wouldn't answer…..probably "Sir we just got a packet of data, rather large one too." Vidul reported as he worked the terminal in front of where he sat. "I have sufficient evidence that it may be a language packett. You want me to scan it for malware and run it through our translation software?"
Rikvul looked over at Vidul and dipped his head down. "No Vidul, I want you to delete it. Yes scan it and translate it! Hurry! We don't want to keep them waiting any longer." What was he surrounded by? Drones? No, that was absolutely unjustified for him to think such a thing. This was a delicate matter. Of course they wouldn't do anything without his permission. "Running it through the translator Sir." Vidul replied in his stoic voice, he wasn't one for emotions but even the most synthetic Val'Kin would be excited at what was going on. "Translation done, running it to you. Access subroutine language barrier 42."
Wow that was synthetic, like almost overly so, a lot of Val'kin never spoke about their...robotic processes. It actually kind of made him feel uncomfortable. He shifted in his chair as he looked back to the….sickly looking organic. He briefly wondered if they would be against him painting their skin. He studied the translator software. English, huh, basic simple…...not simple, a lot of rules. Thank the Void he was synthetic. Otherwise this really would have been a pain.
"Greetings." He spoke aloud, his voice just slightly electronic and masculine. "I am Rikvul, captain of this Scuttler. We are Val'Kin, we wish only for peace between you and the Val'Kin."
*A/N* A real laser weapon specially one tuned for use against humanoids would pulse. This is because a laser hitting flesh would cause a small steam/plasma explosion. It is this mechanical force from the small explosion which causes a lot of the damage. So the wound would be ragged and not cauterized, it would bleed a lot. Reflective anti laser armor would only work for the first one or two pulses as the 10% or so of energy that was still absorbed would warp or melt the material, making it less reflective.
That would be how Val'Kin lasers would work, I'm adding this as a response to an Anon who basically explained why he was tired of "OMFG LAZORS EN PLASMER WEPONS!11!" in stories, and I can somewhat agree with him. But yes, plasma and lasers will be used by the Val' why the hell would fuel be a problem? Don't you know Antimatter is the cure for all energy problems? (And maybe that EM drive their working on, hmm?) Sheesh, some people don't know their fiction. (ohh, ohh, I know, I know!) I'm joking that was actually an important question…...Still Antimatter tho.
So anyone got a problem with timelines? I'm getting a few PMs telling me to do like a prologue or something of the sort. (ikr) Unfortunately I don't quite know how to move chapters around. So if someone could PM me if there was a way to do such things I would be grateful. (shh, look no further, ME BETA READER AM HERE!)[yet, he hasn't told me how to do so yet]Also yes, the Val'Kin will look a bit like the Val'Nar. Build thy creation in thy image ya know? Anyway. Up next, in chapter 3. Human and Val'Kin diplomacy, and what these towering metal reptiles look like.
Also got a job next this upcoming week, so the updates will take a bit longer to come in, but don't worry, I love writing this and I love you guys. I won't stop unless physically unable to write. (*Trips Void and walks away*)[You dirty sonavabitch!]