STGOD 4 Game Thread

[Bugsby]

Cadmus

Faran Tor looked critically at the negotiator across from him. He had received large orders before, but an entire set of planetry shield generators? This was practically unheard of. Still, he did the necessary mental calculations.

"Well, let's see. You are, of course, fully aware that planetary shields are not one unit, but many. Each one will have to be manufactured and transported seperately, and each convoy will have to be heavily protected. These things are just too valuable to let pirates get their hands on them. Also, they have to be installed and calibrated on your homeworlds, taking many months to fully power up and calibrate. All together, I estimate the cost at...." he paused, crunching all the numbers together. The total cost to the Combine to do such a thing would be astronomical, nearly 300 billion standard credits. That was comparable to the GNP of one of the smaller client worlds! And at such a huge risk, the Combine needed a large payoff, or else it just wasn't worth it.

"400 billion standard credits. Per shielded world." He let that sink in for a second. "There are four things that you have to understand about that number. First, I know it's a lot. Your economy will be under some stress for a good while if you have to pay that amount. Second, that covers all expenses. We will take care of everything: manufacture, transport, escort, installation. Everything. If you want to take over one of those duties, it will of course lower the price, although you might have some problems. For example, if you want to install the system yourself, that would likely lower the cost to you by around 60 billion. Although I don't know how much luck you would have, unless your techs are specially trained to calibrate Krell hardware. Third, we will cover any incidental costs that might arise along the way. Damage, set-backs, etc. We would only ask for more payment if the increase in incidental costs rises above what you are paying. We will not lose money out of this exchange. And finally, that's about as low as I can go. There might be some smaller things to haggle over, but we can't afford to take the risk in this investment if the price drops much lower than that. So... what do you think?"

[frigidmagi]

"We require only one set of shield generators. We do not require your techs about on our worlds, also we are more than able to transport the generators in security ourselves, just name a pick up point. We will not pay more than 315 billion. Which is more than the manufacturing will cost you." Sir Ashton replied deadpan.

[Bugsby]

Cadmus

"That's reasonable," Tor told Ashton. "However, that negates much of our reponsibility regarding the product. If you want to transport the shields, escort them, and set them up, we will not be responsible for any damages that occur to the product while they are in your care, and you will not be reimbursed. You will, of course, be able to check the shielding units to make sure that they are fully functional when they are given over. After that, we will no longer be liable. That said, I believe 315 billion is a workable quantity. We will make the exchange in the neutral space just outside the Sirius system, unless that is too much of a problem for you. We will need a little over a month to finalize our construction and shipping plans. We will call you when your order is complete. Now, unless you have any objections to this, I think we are done here."

[Marcao]

Manasan Space
Manasa IV, Government Palace

He was committed to his action, his will exerted on the physical world with obvious results. His opponent was of unusual caliber, and in the pit of his stomach an icy chill was born irritation spreading through his body. It was not often that someone resisted him thus, and he was looking forward to killing this man. Nonetheless, a stalemate was something that he was willing to settle upon. Every second that his target spent here dancing with him, meant a second that he was not doing damage. It was a compromise he could live with.

Time was relative in his mind, his current state manifesting in a manner that seemed to imply that the world around him was constantly slowing down. In truth, his mental perceptions were speeding up beneath his desire and the abilities granted to him by his implants. His anti-matter spreads were being avoided for the most part, and for that his enemy deserved praise. Each shot would have at least wounded a lesser man, but it quickly became apparent to him that his enemy was heavily boosted, perhaps almost as much as he was. Veithan science was capable of many things, but it was not alone in the known galaxy. There were many nations that were capable of toying with cybernetics. This man was certainly not Manasan, or if he was he was certainly not using Manasan technology.

His eyes narrowed as the sole bolt that managed to make contact with his slippery prey met an unseen resistance, the shield flickering to life as it deflected the bolt and absorbed the energy that would have gutted his prey. A personal shield? He did not allow the thought to continue, realizing his mistake almost immediately. He should have pressed the attack, but instead he let the irritating building within him get the best of him. His options switching, the desire to break every bone in his targets body overcoming proper tactical doctrine. He chastised himself mentally, reminding himself that against this enemy he could not afford many mistakes.

His telekinesis was a brute force approach, utilizing raw talent and natural psychic strength rather than practice and years of study. He turned the room into his weapon, accelerating the chandelier towards his target after he had ripped it from its supports. There was no subtlety involved; there was no gentle lifting or precise controlling of the objects. It was as if an invisible hurricane had suddenly materialized in the room, accelerating various objects quickly all aimed towards their intended target. Each object was intended to smash and destroy, breaking bones and bruising muscles. His target however, apparently had other ideas. They always did.

His targets motion was puzzling, by hurtling himself forwards towards the center of the room he separated himself from the paintings and vases that decorated the room’s perimeter, but he brought himself closer to the heavier and potentially more lethal furniture that was placed near the center. He was not about to complain, instead guiding various chairs and what passed as a sofa towards his prey. He had no fine control, but at the right angles it would not make much of a difference. As the chandelier fell, his mind pushed it a bit harder and towards the center, trying to adjust in a basic manner for his target’s change in position.

The prey was up to something, an icy chill running down his back as his mind anticipated the threat before his target had acted. Nonetheless, knowing that there was a threat and recognizing it were two separate concepts. It was then that he saw the motions of his adversary, the objects tossed towards their target with mixed effects. A master in telekinesis would have neatly juggled the objects and returned them towards his enemy; he had seen the gifted keep track of over a hundred distinct objects without much trouble. He was not one of those people, and thus he relied exclusively on the immense power his birth right allowed him. The grenades were not intercepted directly, but they had to try and reach their destination through an ever closing gap of furniture moving directly towards his enemy. The telekinetic force that was pushing the objects forward, held measurable force. He could not throw the grenades back at him, but without intending to do so he managed to deflect them. Had the grenades been primed for longer time, they would have been totally ineffective. Since there was a mere one second delay, the trio of explosions which blossomed threatened both hunter and hunted.

There was precious little time for him to react, he could have teleported behind his target and ended his miserable existence once and for all, but that would have taken time. It was time that he did not have, and thus he had trust his instincts. As the concussion and fragment component of the grenades expanded, he willed himself back to his starting point. He managed to leave the room, as the edges of the grenades effects reached him. He reappeared before the elevator in the transmission level of the underground complex, his neural implants reporting that his suit had suffered over a dozen impacts but not breached. His Dark Cloak however had not fared so well. The cloak had simply taken too much punishment, the concussive effects of the grenades and various small fragments had managed to tear into the fabric, disturbing the harmony between cells. The optical illusion field was disabled, and its secondary function that of refracting fire around him was destroyed.

He looked down towards his suit, and ran and diagnostic, the stealth suit had been designed to be resilient against hostile fire and had managed to suffer little more than superficial damage. All of its capabilities were in the green. He took a deep breath, his right arm moving in a sudden movement a telekinetic ram slamming into the wall at his right, cracking the surface and sending a roar of sound down the hall. ~Avery, are you alright?~ the mental contact from one of the familiar minds brought him back to reality, his response as controlled as always. ~I am fine. The Cloak is shredded however, whoever the hell this guy is. He is good, damned good. I will deal with him however. He won’t get much further.~ There was no reply. The information analyst had felt the mood in Avery’ mind when their minds talked to the other and had decided that it was best if silent agreement was utilized at that time.

The tattered cloak still hung about his shoulders and over his head, a deep breath taken as he decided that it was time to lay down the rules. His mind widened, a simple telepathic message hissed upwards attempted to be carried to his elusive prey. He had no idea if the message would be received or not, but he did not care. He had to say it. ~You should quit while you are still ahead.~ the message was simple, and as he finished sending it a single psychic-pick up activated his micro-gestalt. It was an expensive piece of cybernetics, and its usage held with it possible risks. Nonetheless, the ability to boost his psionic powers was extremely useful. He had not used this since his last action. He hated magic users. Under the influence of the gestalt, his mind expanded internally. His head tilting upwards, glancing at the elevator doors before him. His arms moved, clips exchanged in his pistols as he reloaded and tucked away the semi-spent clips. His suit plugged into the internal defense systems of the palace. His people had rigged the elevator shafts with incendiary explosives, aware that it was a prime location for penetration. Those explosive even now lay dormant. Their slumber would not last long however, and when they detonated they would cleanse he shaft in fire. The explosions would not be enough to harm the structure of the shaft, but anything that was inside the shaft at the time would be hard pressed to survive. All he needed to do now was wait until he felt that annoyingly familiar presence and flip the switch. He took a step back and then another and another. If his prey survived the shaft, he would be waiting. He had just the location in mind. His smile was frightening to behold.

[Bugsby]

Yrt Ztal looked around, dazed. What the hell had happened? His grenades had been right on target until the last moment, when some unseen force deflected them. He moaned. His adversary's telekinesis had been strong enough to deflect the bombs from their proper targets, but the effects were not all bad.

The grenade he had sent towards his rival had made it most of the way there before stopping in midair. His opponent was gone. Yrt did not doubt for an instant that his opponent was alive. The Veithan was clearly not in the room, and well out of the range of Yrt's ability to detect using his neural implants. But still, on the ground in front of him, he saw the tattered remains of a Dark Cloak. At least his opponent was visible now.

The grenade he had sent forward to clear debris was actually the one that had saved him. It had been deflected upward towards the incomng chandelier, the blast of detonation hurling the chandelier away from him. Had the Veithan been pulling on it a second longer it would have struck him, severely harming him, maybe even killing him. As it was, the chandelier lay on the ground several feet away, a heap of twisted metal. That had been lucky.

He had not been so lucky with the third grenade, however. That one he had sent towards the lifts, but it had been knocked back fairly quickly. A sofa that had come flying between himself and the grenade had abosrbed most of the impact, but it sent the sofa flying at him with massive force, pinning him to the ground. That's where he was now.

With an effort, he lifted an arm of the sofa, able to slide himself out form under it. He felt a dull pain in his chest. The wind had been knocked out of him, and from the feel of it, he had a few bruised ribs. The pain was not an issue, but he would be slower now. He felt a touch on the back of his neck, but when he turned to look, no one was there. A voice echoed in his head. "You should quit while you are ahead."

He wished he could. But he was under contract, and the Krell lived and died by their contracts. Died was most likely at this point, but he had no choice.

He stood up, taking stock of his surroundings. The room was a mess, damaged furniture everywhere, huge black scorch marks from where his grenades went off. He checked his supplies. 6 knives, a mage blade, 15 grenades (8 incendiary), two blasters and a rifle at full nearly full charge. He was glad he was using energy weapons, not projectile. A bit less powerful, perhaps, but much larger clips. He took a deep breath and walked towards the lifts.

The one he wanted was obvious at first sight. Larger, more heavily armored, and deactivated. "All that security for nothing," he thought, as he pulled out the mage blade. He moved slowly, beginning at the top corner of the door and scoring the metal in a large rectangle, as large as he could make it. He could not afford the time wasted by scrambling through small holes. When he had outlined his improvised door, he thrust the blade in, making a full cut. The door fully outlined, he kicked as hard as he could. With a wrench of protest, the large metal pannel fell down into the shaft, banging along the walls as it went down, finally coming to rest on top of the deadened lift some 100 yards below him. He stepped forward, peering down the shaft to plan his best route down. This was the time for caution. He activated his finger grips. The sides of the shaft were relativel smooth, with a few areas where machinery stuck out. Yrt would head for those areas, where he would have better footholds. He relaxed, using his neural implants to incresae his sight and looking at every countour of the wall. Then he saw them. Several small lumps, hidden within the machinery on the side of the shaft. Unremarkable in and of themselves, he sensed danger from them.

He leaned back to think. Lumps that caused him to sense danger on the inside of the elevator shaft. What could they be? Some sort of security device, obviously. One of the lumps was right across the shaft from where he had made his improvised door. He stared at it, trying to feel what it was. The answer came soon enough, not from his mental augmentation, but from logic. It could not be some sort of projectile or energy ray trap. If it was, the thing would have fired on him the second he had gained access to the shaft. Instead, this was something that would activate once he was inside, something that was incapalbe of actually firing at him, but still capable fo causing harm. A bomb. What kind of bomb, though? Plasma or fragmentation or incendiary? He thought on that. Incendiary. Definately incendiary. The other ones would cause too much damage to the lift, something that the Manasans would not want to do. An incendiary bomb would be quick and efficient, filling the shaft with fire, roasting anything and everything inside.

He had to deactivate the bombs, but could not risk entering the shaft itself. He still hadnt spotted the passive alert systems that would trigger the bombs detonation, and he was not going to walk blindly into a loaded shaft. He backed far away from the lift to the back wall of the room and unslung his rifle, pointing it directly at the first bomb. He stopped and rethought things for a second. Then he laid down on the ground in a more steady position and set the rifle to full power. He would empty his entire clip in one very powerful shot. The rifle would be worthless from that point on, but with enough power he could blast through the bomb's casing, and heat the incendiaries to their flash point, activating the bomb. He targeted carefully, knowing he would only get one shot and fired.

The rifle round set the bomb off. With a roar, fire poared out of the elevator shaft, quickly rising. From Yrt's position on the floor and well back, most of the flame missed him. The heat made his eyes water, but it was all over in a second. Then the other explosions started. The heat from the first blast had not just come out into the room, it had flooded up and down the lift shaft, igniting the other bombs to their flash points. This time, all the heat was channeled up and down the shaft, with only minimal heat escaping from the door (OOC: this does make sense from the standpoint of physics since the rest of the bombs are above or below the door, and the narrow shaft would channel the explosions up and down.).

The shaft was cleared, but now Yrt could not get near it. The extreme heat from the expolsives still permeated the shaft. A wind of hot air came blowing out of the shaft as convection currents raced the spare heat away. The shaft would cool, and quickly, but it would still take more time than Yrt wanted to give it. As much as 15 minutes before it was safe to venture down, probably closer to 10. The King's speech was set to start in 15 minutes. This was going to be close. Too close.

Guards started to flood the room, reacting to the noise of battle they had heard earlier. Yrt crouched in the corner, his stealth suit still active. As long as he remained motionless and no one looked directl at him, he would be fine. He just had to wait now.

NOTE: This edit made at the reccomendation of Marcao. My original post took way too many liberties, and so I edited to bring the character's actions back within the realm of possibility.

[frigidmagi]

Bugsby said:

We will call you when your order is complete. Now, unless you have any objections to this, I think we are done here."

"Agreed. Contact us when the product is ready for pickup."

[frigidmagi]

Deep in the fortified depths of Firsthold capital of the United Protectrates, a meeting was taking place. Inside a room with some of the heaviest security measures throughout the U.P and most likey beyond. Representives from 5 nations were there. The United Protectrates, who was hosting, the Republic of Nashtar, the Psilons, the K.S.E and the Arcane Empire.

Sir Brain Mattews, cousin to the Lord Protector, smiled at all the dilopmats gathered in the room.

"Welcome gentlemen, if you are perpared let us begin." He said

[Rogue 9]

Ambassador Shelton had been dispatched to this meeting. He was one of the most senior men in the Ministry of State, and was designated Ambassador-At-Large. This meeting was important enough to warrant his presence. He smiled at the United Protectorate representative. "Greetings, Sir Brian. Here's to a productive meeting."

[Thirdfain]

A rumble of anger ran through the conversation around the table at the Hajr's ruling council. They had been snubbed by the United Protectorate, their message ignored, and their offer of an exchange of representatives met with silence.

The insult was biting.

[Darksider]

::::::Diplomatic conference, UP Space:::::::

Ambassador stranon greeted his fellow delegates

"Hello all. I take it we have much to discuss?"

[lazerus]

In a flash of light, a goa;ould cargo ship appeared in orbit over the capital planet of every empire that hadn't gone to great lenghts to conceal the location of their worlds. (you know who you are)

Each one transmitted the following message. (NOT using the goa'ould voice, so you just see a human.)
"Greetings, I am here on behalf of the The Krynor Empire, a power new to this reagon. We have only recently become a part of the local political sphere, and wish to negoate a non-aggression pact and possible free-trade aggreements with our neighbors. Please respond."

[Captain tycho]

The R'hlloran fleet had been wandering aimlessly for some time now, monitoring the local situation as always, and calculating whether to interfere.
It pained the 13 to see such powerful nations bickering over bits of useless territory or some obscure bit of diplomatic code. The R'hllorans knew they could not remain neutral indefinetly. After an extended council meeting, the 13 had a decision. And then there was this mysterious message, which compounded matters further. They had to takes sides, and soon. The Outsters had demonstrated to the R'hllorans that even peaceful species wouldnt be left un-molested.

[lazerus]

"This is diplomatic vessil Naquira-7 calling planet, can you hear us?"

[Bugsby]

Cadmus

Faran Tor watched the UP representative go. When the door closed behind him, Faran Tor jumped up and pumped the air with his fist. He was very happy about the way things had gone. The UP negotiatior was trying to protect his nations secrets, but in the process had brought most of the cost upon himself, and made the UP liable for any damages. The cost to the Combine would now be closer to 200 billion to construct, and they would be recieving 315 billion. A much nicer profit both in terms of net and percentage gain. He called to his secretary outside.

"Send a message to Nexus. Tell Krell what happened. And get my car ready. I feel like a night on the town!"

[Dahak]

In a flash of light, a goa;ould cargo ship appeared in orbit over the capital planet of every empire that hadn't gone to great lenghts to conceal the location of their worlds. (you know who you are)

Each one transmitted the following message. (NOT using the goa'ould voice, so you just see a human.)
"Greetings, I am here on behalf of the The Krynor Empire, a power new to this reagon. We have only recently become a part of the local political sphere, and wish to negoate a non-aggression pact and possible free-trade aggreements with our neighbors. Please respond."

++As I've been inviting other powers to open up embassies for some time now, I think my location is now known.++

The instant the unidentified ship emerged in space around Gladsheim Prime it was targeted by scores of sensor platforms, OWPs, and fleet units.
Not waiting for a reaction of the unidentified craft, fighters were launched, and it was targeted by everything within range. Fleet units immeadiate changed course and went on full General Quarters.

Even as the ship transmitted its message, it was hailed.
"Unknown ship," an immaterial voice serenly spoke out, "Immeadiately deactivate all your drive systems. You will not deviate from your position, or you will be destroyed. You will hold position until further notice."

***

<<Blow them out of the sky!>> a huge outcry went through Consensus and Datanet.
<<We will do so, if they do not yield,>> Empress Elana's calm digital voice made itself heard. <<But not unless they are given a chance. We are opening up to other powers. They just seem to be extremely foolish.>>

[Rogue 9]

In a flash of light, a goa;ould cargo ship appeared in orbit over the capital planet of every empire that hadn't gone to great lenghts to conceal the location of their worlds. (you know who you are)

Each one transmitted the following message. (NOT using the goa'ould voice, so you just see a human.)
"Greetings, I am here on behalf of the The Krynor Empire, a power new to this reagon. We have only recently become a part of the local political sphere, and wish to negoate a non-aggression pact and possible free-trade aggreements with our neighbors. Please respond."

[OOC: My location's not secret, but you'd have a hell of a time getting through the star cluster and nebulae without having to exit FTL drive somewhere in my defense grid, or at least in a sensor net.]

[Thirdfain]

Asteroid B-193530
Kharam Graveyard Asteroid Field
Alpha Centauri system

The asteroid had begun it's life as a chunk of the Womb- the massive shipyard which had acted as the center of the great cluster-city called Kharam. Centuries ago, the vessel that had seeded the Elysium sector had been built, and launched here. Now, demolished by a treacherous Asgard bomb, it had become a graveyard where occaisonal Floater nomads would settle to comb the wreckage for usable scrap.

Asteroid B-193530 was one of the larger peices of wreckage. It had been, sometime in the last century, sealed and equipped with simple life support, acting as a home for transient Floater refugees. Now, it was being used as a meeting place. Hovering around the rock were a dozen warships- vessels with names like Shadowrun, Indecent Templar, or Killfrenzy- Floater vessels, warships. They were old-model strike cruisers, for the most part, some of them literally living relics of the Genocide Wars- vessels which had survived the Asgard guns, and gone into hiding, forced into piracy. Any trace of the old Unified Navy paint-jobs, symbols, or honor were long gone. The craft had been modified, rebuilt, damaged, and haphazardly repaired dozens of times over the intervening century. A few were newer craft, constructed in secret over the years. At the center of the formation hung a grandiose old Mohaimese Attack Carrier- the Black Alice, named for the first Floater vessel to die in the Genocide wars in the skirmish that started it all.

These ships were the scourge of the spaceways, engaging in piracy as a way of life. Now, they were recieving a business proposal. The deal was simple- They would focus their activites in the newly-conquered regions of the Covenant of God. In exchange, they would be funneled modern weapons and defenses, not to mention significant amounts of money, in the form of Nashtari dollars.

Their benefactors were, unbeknownst to them, representatives of a puppet corporation of the Basque Industrial Conglomorate.

[lazerus]

[OOC: My location's not secret, but you'd have a hell of a time getting through the star cluster and nebulae without having to exit FTL drive somewhere in my defense grid, or at least in a sensor net.]

Fine, it's a detail.

++As I've been inviting other powers to open up embassies for some time now, I think my location is now known.++

The instant the unidentified ship emerged in space around Gladsheim Prime it was targeted by scores of sensor platforms, OWPs, and fleet units.
Not waiting for a reaction of the unidentified craft, fighters were launched, and it was targeted by everything within range. Fleet units immeadiate changed course and went on full General Quarters.

Even as the ship transmitted its message, it was hailed.
"Unknown ship," an immaterial voice serenly spoke out, "Immeadiately deactivate all your drive systems. You will not deviate from your position, or you will be destroyed. You will hold position until further notice."

***

<<Blow them out of the sky!>> a huge outcry went through Consensus and Datanet.
<<We will do so, if they do not yield,>> Empress Elana's calm digital voice made itself heard. <<But not unless they are given a chance. We are opening up to other powers. They just seem to be extremely foolish.>>

[ON A POWERFULL WIDE BEAM TRANSMISSION]

"Attention command, planitary power is hostile. I repeat, hostile. Diplomatic mission failed."

The caroship engages it's cloaking device and jumps to FTL, hopiong to escape before it can be distroyed.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Astinius Malastaral had been dispatched to the meeting and greeted everyone cheerfully

"Good Morrow, peace be with you my friends."

[Alyrium Denryle]

In a flash of light, a goa;ould cargo ship appeared in orbit over the capital planet of every empire that hadn't gone to great lenghts to conceal the location of their worlds. (you know who you are)

Each one transmitted the following message. (NOT using the goa'ould voice, so you just see a human.)
"Greetings, I am here on behalf of the The Krynor Empire, a power new to this reagon. We have only recently become a part of the local political sphere, and wish to negoate a non-aggression pact and possible free-trade aggreements with our neighbors. Please respond."

A fleet consiting of a Dreadnought and support vessels Teleported in around the mothership within seconds. Every broadside ready to open fir at the twitch of a muscle

"We have this little thing called territory, please do not drop by unannounced. You will poqwer down all weapons and drive systems, you will lower whatever shields you may have. Heave to, and prepare to be boarded and inspected by customs. We apologize for the inconvenience, but you did evade every other customs checkpoint, and we have no way of knowing what horrible ilnesses you may be carrying that we are not adapted to"

[Rogue 9]

Astinius Malastaral had been dispatched to the meeting and greeted everyone cheerfully

"Good Morrow, peace be with you my friends."

"Ah, Astinius, good to see you again!" said Ambassador Shelton, rising to shake the wizard's hand.

[frigidmagi]

"Well gentlemen allow me to outline what the U.P feels this alliance should be. If we agree the terms and actions of the alliance should be as follows.
One, an attack on one member is an attack on all members.
Two, sharing of intelligence and combined conterintelligence operations when seen fit by members.
Three, joint military operations and exerices.
Four, Free trade to be estblished between members. Is this acceptable to you gentlemen?"

[Rogue 9]

"There will, of course, be other details to hammer out, but that is the basic idea that the Republic of Nashtar came here with. Do the other representatives agree?" Shelton looked about the room, smiling as he always did.

[Darksider]

In a flash of light, a goa;ould cargo ship appeared in orbit over the capital planet of every empire that hadn't gone to great lenghts to conceal the location of their worlds. (you know who you are)

Each one transmitted the following message. (NOT using the goa'ould voice, so you just see a human.)
"Greetings, I am here on behalf of the The Krynor Empire, a power new to this reagon. We have only recently become a part of the local political sphere, and wish to negoate a non-aggression pact and possible free-trade aggreements with our neighbors. Please respond."

:::::::Carulan orbit, Krytos System:::::

Hundreds of weapons emplacements targeted the small cargo vessel that had appeared unnanounced.

"Attention unidentified vessel, you have violated Krytosian space. If you want to set up diplomatic relations with the empire, this is not the way to do it. If you wish, we could meet in neutral territory to discuss your proposal, but i'm going to have to ask you to leave immediatly."

[lazerus]

"We have this little thing called territory, please do not drop by unannounced. You will poqwer down all weapons and drive systems, you will lower whatever shields you may have. Heave to, and prepare to be boarded and inspected by customs. We apologize for the inconvenience, but you did evade every other customs checkpoint, and we have no way of knowing what horrible ilnesses you may be carrying that we are not adapted to"

"Understood, apoligies for the faux pas, were new to this reagon. Powering down shields and drives now........."

The glow from the engines and shimmer of the sheilds vanishes.

--------------------------

"Attention unidentified vessel, you have violated Krytosian space. If you want to set up diplomatic relations with the empire, this is not the way to do it. If you wish, we could meet in neutral territory to discuss your proposal, but i'm going to have to ask you to leave immediatly."

"Apoligies, we did not feel an unarmed cargo vessel would be considered a threat. Is there a meeting point you can suggest?"