First Contact For Dummies: Volume 4

Posted on Mon Jun 4th, 2018 @ 9:21pm by Lieutenant JG Fal'twip Ru'fiz & Lieutenant Commander Shadi Zatra

1,981 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: S1:3: Myriad Problems
Location: Pathfinder Ready Room (Formally Material's Science Lab 7)
Timeline: MD 1 16.00

Fal'twip nudged the isolinear rod back into place, and with a loud 'clack' of surging current, the room's holo emitters glowed to life. The room itself was mostly bare, save for the barest essentials of a desk and a few chairs. The walls were still marked by the shadowed outlines where large scientific instruments had been bolted to it, now left out like the blast shadows from a plasma fire.

"There," the diminutive Leporidite said, all of his white fur now standing on end like a puffball from the static shock. He turned and looked up at Danni and Shadi, puffed up hands on his hips. "I don't know where the Captain got this piece of equipment, but the Electronic Counter Measures suite is hooked into the main sensors. I'll stay nearby to better help you interpret any of the data that comes in."

Wih a few deft hops, the tiny scientist bounded behind Danni's desk, and onto the chair where he began to type out commands. In the centre of the room, the holo emitter's began to project a jagged model of the alien vessel, painted in lurid false colour radiation readings before reverting to a true colour representation. The hull was a dull tan colour, raised in a series of serrated ridges like the shell of a horned beetle.

"That looks...friendly," Fal'twip said in a voice that dripped with uncertainty.

Shadi looked at the tasty bunny, then Daani, and then the bunny again. "Apex predatorsss," Shadi said after studying the alien ship. "Are there any signals coming our way? Their hailing technology might be very different from ours."

“Apex predator? Takes one to know one,” Fal’twip said under his breath, whisker shivering a little as he peered at the data on the display. “Ah, yes here we are. Huum...high powered radio wave, laser ranging and judging by the mass reading a gravimetric anomally detector...its safe to say it’s using active sensors to perceive us. Same as we are.”

He leaned back on his spring loaded haunches, assuming the pose of Rodan’s The Thinker.

“Huum...you know if we accessed the controls for the navigational range finders we could begin pulsing the Primes at the ship?” He ventured.

Daani nodded at the rabbit’s words, studying the vessel in front of them. “Agreed, it’s definitely a predator,” she commented. “It’s not displaying any threat so far, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way.” She pursed her lips, tapping them with one finger as she considered the rabbit’s suggestions.

“I’m hesitant to use more than active sensors since we have no clue what their offensive capability is at the moment. If we start something up, they could consider it an act of aggression.” She pulled the padd clear of her pocket, pleased to note it was already uplinked to the room. “If we figure out their recent flight vector, see when they changed course and speed…”

She looked back up at the armored hull of the new ship, her mind already ticking over. “They’re going to have to raise that hull shielding at some point… Why have it unless it does something?” She looked at Shadi. “Is it possible they’re so different from us that that shielding is all they have?”

"Starving warriors don't decorate their hides; victorious ones do." Shadi sniffed. "I don't like that they haven't communicated with us yet. If I'm reading the signs, they mean to cow us with their armor plating."

"Maybe it ornamental? The serration's might denote age or a level of prestige?" Fal'twip said, his ears flicking up and down in remarkably well time semaphore fashion. "Maybe, speaking as a microbiologist, the ship was grown? It might be we are seeing an actual carapace and not hull plating?"

Shadi looked down at her prosthetic leg that accommodated her while her missing limb regrew itself. "Then they can bleed," she half muttered, half hissed under her breath.

As they talked the hologram slowly rotated along its long axis, giving the four pinnacles of the ships castle-like design a good showing.

"Perhaps you need only ask, and all your question would be answered?"

Fal'twip looked at Shadi, and then at Black. None of them had spoken, the voice cast in accentless male Federation standard. The sort of voice sort after for lobby reception utilities or turbolift's in the more fanciful Risian hotel chains.

"Do not be alarmed. I mean no harm, I saw an opportunity to open a dialogue and took it. If I am forward, and a bounder, then I shall depart and speak directly to the head," the voice said, the slightest curl of mirth colouring the words. "But that would not do to bypass the offices of the Pathfinder. Which one of you is them, or she, or he? I am not as of yet properly versed in the role's within your species. I would not enjoy being rude upon our first conversational intercourse. It sets a pattern, I find. First impressions are so...important."

Shadi extended the talons on her right hand with a flick of her wrist. "Back where I come from, the invader declares himself before making demands in another's hearth. Who the famine are you?"

“Ah, yes! Of course how rude of me. You are strangers in a strange land, it stands to reason you would be weary: and rightly so!” The voice effected a pleasant chuckle. “Allow me to illuminate upon my personage: my name is Abborax, and I represent a collective of worlds managed by The Myriad.”

Shadi felt her jaw unhinge and slowly go lax as the voice spoke. Her chin hung several inches below her neck. She gave her head a vigorous shake that reattached her jaw. Turning to Daani, she whispered, "What'sss a Myriad?"

“It means countless or without limit. Legion,” Daani replied in an undertone. “If it has translated correctly. The name suggests either a hive entity or perhaps a council setup.”

She lifted her voice to a higher pitch. “Well met, Abborax. My name is Daani Black, I am the Pathfinder aboard this vessel,” she said, using the fanciful title Remas had given her rather than mentioning Intelligence. It often gave the wrong impression; that of spooks and deals in the shadows.

“Since you can obviously find your way around our systems enough to get an audio signal through here… perhaps you would do us the courtesy of seeing you on screen. The holo-emitters in here should be sufficient to communicate visually.”

She nodded to Fal’twip to allow an incoming signal and to start recording if he hadn’t. Briefly she debated contacting the bridge but decided that they would have registered an incoming signal anyway. Right now, she couldn’t worry about protocol; her job was to collect intelligence. A job made even easier when it fell into their collective laps like this.

"Would that I could, Pathfinder Black. Would that I could," Abborax's voice chuckled again. "But it is a well-known fact amongst the Myriad that our physicality is...damaging to most humanoid life. We prefer to interface with fellow sentients via remotely controlled proxies of a likeness they are accustom to. In nearly all our recorded history, this has not lead us wrong. And it has fostered a great deal of fellowship and goodwill. It also lends itself to play on words, as a single agent of the Myriad might inhabit a dozen or more Shatterling's at a single time. I am currently fabricating one that will suffice as a crude interface for our meeting."

There was a pause, before Abborax continued.

"By your clocks we will rendezvous above the 8th moon of the systems largest gas giant in a little over two hours. By then, my proxy will be ready and fully configured for negotiations and communications. Until then I am more than happy to discuss less pressing matters. For instance, if you have any repairs or fuel needs? We Myriad are traders renowned throughout The Sphere's for the quality of our wares. And if repairs are not required, I am more happy to discuss the sale of certain technologies and novelties that might be advantageous to new arrivals to The Spheres."

The hologram used so many words that Shadi did not understand. Shatterlings. Spheres. Myriad. Rendezvous. She flared her nostrils in frustration at trying to keep up. "Starving space ghosts," she hissed. "All I know is you'd better not try to eat any of us, or I swear to Goddess I will eat you right back!"

"By the ink, you are a fascinating lot. I especially look forward to meeting you Lieutenant Shadi Zatra. In fact, I think I might even have something you might wish to trade for, an exquisite set of talon sheaths from the gladiatorial arenas of the Twin Worlds. I will bring them with me when I arrive," Abborax said. "Oh, and on that note would it be permissible for me to arrive via ship to ship shuttle? I can see from your system specifications you have a matter decoherence transmitter? The Myriad is, alas, a little phobic about transporters."

Daani often listened but didn’t say much. A lot could be learned from a person by how they responded and when as much as from the words they used. Right now she was letting Abborax talk and filling in details about their new ‘friends’ as he did so.

As Shadi spoke, she quickly checked the locations he mentioned. It wasn’t far. The Traveller could easily arrive before the alloted meeting time and scope the location out.

“That is totally understandable,” she replied with a small smile. “I had trouble trusting them myself when I first encountered them. It’s not a technology we use on my home world,” she added, as much for Shadi as their ‘guest’.

“However, all trades must be ratified by our Captain. It’s his… speciality, you could say. As for the meeting, we would be delighted to meet new friends. Will there just be yourself arriving? And does your proxy require any special environmental conditions?”

"My proxy is a biomechanical construct, I assure you they have withstood meetings with members of the Sentient Five Nexus whose home atmosphere can crush a cubic meter of titanium into a disc. Anything short of directed particle projection would only slow it down," Abborax said enthusiastically. "And I will happily bring guests! I am currently travelling with a small retinue of passengers making a circuit of The Outer Sphere, I am sure one or two of them would enjoy meeting you! And your captain, also. I will do what I can Shadi to impress on him how much you would benefit from the talon sheaths. Until our meeting?"

Shadi listened with growing unease, eventually sparing a glance for her talons. She wiggled them against a flare of insecurity.

Tapping her combadge, she screamed, "Captain Remas!"

Oh for… Daani kept her expression level with effort at her colleagues outburst. She hadn’t wanted to give anything away to their new ‘friend’, not anything more than she had to anyway. Especially not unease.

Ignoring it, she addressed Abborax again. “I will ensure we make preparations for three individuals then. And I am sure the Captain will be delighted to meet you. Until our meeting then.”

"I look forward to it," Abborax finished.

She cut a glance to Fal’twip, waiting until the rabbit nodded that the connection had been cut before letting go of the breath she’d been holding. Rather than say anything to Shadi, she added her own voice to the summons for Remas, tapping her own commbadge.

“Captain, there have been some developments in the situation with our new friends you may wish to be appraised of.”

 

RSS Feed