STGOD2k6 Main Thread

[Companion Cube]

Tarsis Deux, Kergudter March, Empire of Crobuzon
The Pfhor drone scout had been performing a series of FTL jumps to the galactic north of Lh'owon, cooperating with a horde of identical vessels to catalogue potentially valuable systems and habitable worlds. LPG-sponsored corporate exploitation teams were never far behind.

Programmed to seek out potential trading partners, the probe's personality construct had noted the emission shells of the nearby systems and set course for the densest, performing a jump which took it to the edge of the Tarsis Deux system. As it arrived, sensor masts unfolded from its armoured carapace and it began transmitting the standard first contact signals.

[Lancer]

"Sir," the communication officer answered him, "we can't do it. They might react badly to it, and without a receiver, I might have problems getting a fix on them."
"Right, right," the Air-Mage said. "Then, by all means, use the hypercom device if you must." After a few seconds, a thought crossed his mind. "DataPort the Central Command. We might need some additional throw wheight here in the future."
"Online, sir," he answered. "Go ahead."
"Unidentified craft," the transmission went out, "this is Air-Mage Elraun, House Del'shu, of the Falau'un Council. This system has been taken by the Falau'un Council to build a scientific research station and trade outpost. What could we possibly do for you?"
It was, after all, not an outright lie.

The Conservator glided smoothly back into realspace long enough to respond, confident from its scans that the Falal'un escort and it's convoy posed no threat.

ooc: For future reference, pattern-ghost indicates observation while in hyperlaunch, since the vessel is effectively intangible. Pattern-whisper indicates an attempt at stealth / silent running mode.

"This is the Avalonian League cruiser Conservator. Your own installation is...within alarmingly close proximity to several communications facilities already established by the League. We will be keeping a close eye on this system."

[Dahak]

The Conservator glided smoothly back into realspace long enough to respond, confident from its scans that the Falal'un escort and it's convoy posed no threat.

ooc: For future reference, pattern-ghost indicates observation while in hyperlaunch, since the vessel is effectively intangible. Pattern-whisper indicates an attempt at stealth / silent running mode.

"This is the Avalonian League cruiser Conservator. Your own installation is...within alarmingly close proximity to several communications facilities already established by the League. We will be keeping a close eye on this system."

Air-Mage Elraun, House Del'shu listened to the strange voice and pondered on it for a moment. It seemed that they initially at least believed their disguise.
"Conservator, we were of course unaware of the proximity. This operation has been planned for some time, so new developments don't seem to have flown into it. We can assure you that we have only peaceful intentions."
And this wasn't an outright lie, either. But as he sent the reply, several larger ships were sent to bolster the defenses. The construction ships also changed their work routine slightly, to include further offensive and defensive means into the already heavily stealthed installation.

ooc: I will try to play along with terminology, if it had been clearer. Or did you write in your oob? Anyway, you can use it as proof of the quality of sensors installed on ships

[Oseng]

Outer Edge, Kurak Space

Doken shrugged as the message came over the speaker.

He walked over to the communications section of the bridge and talked quietly with the techs there.

"That is fine with us. We are transmitting the location of one of our worlds. You are welcome to send a diplomatic delgation there. Though I must warn you that it would be a good idea for the ship, if they come, to drop out of FTL and announce who they are. Other wise they will get blown up." he finished with a slight grin.

"Send it." He gestured to the comms section, and walked off to the sensor and plotting section to see what they would do next.

[Spyder]

Benefactor Border Systems
"Send the fighters to that position and have them scan the area."

A few minutes later, three small contacts appeared on the Falau'un sensors, rapidly approaching.

"Air-Mage," the sensor officer spoke up, "I think we have been discovered. I have three small contacts on the sensors and approaching rapidly. Suggestions?"
"Damn," he cursed under his breath, "Must've been detected. Time for plan B I think. Ready the hypercom to contact them, power up the Netherspace nodes and prepare for immediate departure. Ready self-destruct sequence and sound the pre-evacuation alarm. We might have to teleport home, so get your thoughts clear."
After seconds that seemed to stretch into hours, he got the OK back from the stations.
"Now, time for some acting," he murmurred. "Get me life."

"Hmm, interesting."
The Captain turned an eye to his science officer. Over the years, too many ships logs have been recovered from long destroyed wrecks were the last entry is the science officer saying "interesting." Needless to say the simple word would always get a Captain's attention.

"What have you found?"

The officer scrolled through line after line of sensor data, figures and statistics that only a science officer would comprehend. "The emission doesn't seem to be radiological, more gravimetric...possibly... It's, well it's exhibiting properties of a number of different forms, the program had some difficulty characterising the readings and classed it as a form of radiation."

"This is Wolf Leader, we're approaching the position."

When he got the telepathic thumbs-up, he started speaking. "This is the Falau'un destroyer Uhla'ran. We are on a scientific mission and performing difficult scans of a very rare, delicate magical phenomena in the vicinity. Your presence endangers hours of valuable work for the Falau'un Science Council."

"Get me a line." The Captain orders impatiently.
"Uhla'ran this is Concord Destroyer Centaur. You're trespassing in a no-fly zone within Concord duristiction. Incidentally I find it curious that you find our presense detrimental to your efforts but not the destruction of several large asteroids in the area. Why are you really here?"

[Dahak]

"Get me a line." The Captain orders impatiently.
"Uhla'ran this is Concord Destroyer Centaur. You're trespassing in a no-fly zone within Concord duristiction. Incidentally I find it curious that you find our presense detrimental to your efforts but not the destruction of several large asteroids in the area. Why are you really here?"

"Centaur," the Air-Mage answered, "this is free and empty space, devoid of any systems and we have not been made aware of any such 'no-fly zone'. Why we are here, we have told you already. That you normals are not aware of any magical phenomena around you is certainly not of our concern. We will finish our experiments here, and then leave. You can issue further threats if you must, but I doubt the destruction of our ship on a peaceful scientific mission will go down well with my people."

[Spyder]

"Centaur," the Air-Mage answered, "this is free and empty space, devoid of any systems and we have not been made aware of any such 'no-fly zone'. Why we are here, we have told you already. That you normals are not aware of any magical phenomena around you is certainly not of our concern. We will finish our experiments here, and then leave. You can issue further threats if you must, but I doubt the destruction of our ship on a peaceful scientific mission will go down well with my people."

Off the line,
"Interesting." The science officer repeats. "What do you suppose makes him think we're going to destroy his ship?"

"That's a good question." The Captain responds coldly. Concord officers regularly attend situations where their service is required to resolve disputes between individuals and organisations, they know when they're being lied to.

Back on the line,
"The no-fly zone is for your protection Uhla'ran, we are conducting military excercises. Tell me though, is the Falau'un high command in the habbit of sending destroyers on peaceful scientific missions within jump range of inhabited systems? The reason why I ask is that you seem very concerned that I might destroy your vessel. An odd reaction considering that I'm merely asking for clarification on your current intentions but perhaps valid considering the uncertain times that we are facing. Perhaps the Falau'un authorities did factor in the possibility of a Concord vessel engaging and destroying your scientific expedition? That would certainly explain why you're conducting your experiments from the relative safety of a destroyer, yet does not explain why a scientific survey team would rather indulge in a potential combat situation at the risk of destruction rather then simply discuss the possibility of conducting a survey with the nearest sector authority and thus exposing any potential threat to your scientists.

"So unless there's any reason why you think Concord would object to this survey being taken, there's really no reason we I shouldn't already know what you're up to and you should already know whether or not I intend to kill you. So, is there a reason I should destroy your ship or are you just unimaginably paranoid?"

[Dahak]

"Centaur," the Air-Mage answered, "this is free and empty space, devoid of any systems and we have not been made aware of any such 'no-fly zone'. Why we are here, we have told you already. That you normals are not aware of any magical phenomena around you is certainly not of our concern. We will finish our experiments here, and then leave. You can issue further threats if you must, but I doubt the destruction of our ship on a peaceful scientific mission will go down well with my people."

Off the line,
"Interesting." The science officer repeats. "What do you suppose makes him think we're going to destroy his ship?"

"That's a good question." The Captain responds coldly. Concord officers regularly attend situations where their service is required to resolve disputes between individuals and organisations, they know when they're being lied to.

Back on the line,
"The no-fly zone is for your protection Uhla'ran, we are conducting military excercises. Tell me though, is the Falau'un high command in the habbit of sending destroyers on peaceful scientific missions within jump range of inhabited systems? The reason why I ask is that you seem very concerned that I might destroy your vessel. An odd reaction considering that I'm merely asking for clarification on your current intentions but perhaps valid considering the uncertain times that we are facing. Perhaps the Falau'un authorities did factor in the possibility of a Concord vessel engaging and destroying your scientific expedition? That would certainly explain why you're conducting your experiments from the relative safety of a destroyer, yet does not explain why a scientific survey team would rather indulge in a potential combat situation at the risk of destruction rather then simply discuss the possibility of conducting a survey with the nearest sector authority and thus exposing any potential threat to your scientists.

"So unless there's any reason why you think Concord would object to this survey being taken, there's really no reason we I shouldn't already know what you're up to and you should already know whether or not I intend to kill you. So, is there a reason I should destroy your ship or are you just unimaginably paranoid?"

"Well, well, well," the Air-Mage muttered. "Insolent little creature..." He turned towards his second-in-command. "Yan, please be so kind to create a little Erech distortion, say 10,000km off our bows. If their sensors are good enough, they might pick something faint up. They won't know what it is, but we can honestly say that there is something out there, can't we?"
Yan concentrated his mind, and made the universe create a local, very faint Erech distortion of the port bow, very slowly increasing in strength. Any Falau'un would feel it for several thousand kilometers, but for the not magically equipped, it would barely, if that, register.
He turned his attention back to the Concord vessel and turned on the communication line.
"Centaur," he responded cooly, "for one, all scientific research outside Falau'un space is naturally done by the Falau'un Council High Command, so we send out specifically equipped ships to do so, and a destroyer proved a very efficient craft for it. Anything else would be preposterous. Why should we send out civilian scientists in unprotected ships? I could shoot them myself and be done with it in less time. Our scientists are, of course, proper members of the Falau'un military forces, and so know the dangers involved in doing their work.
"Secondly, your...boasting of the destruction of asteroids seemed to imply a more, say, direct approach to the situation. We are just very cautious, given the current politicial climate in this uncertain times. Our research was done way off any maneuvres you might or might not conduct, and unless you want to claim this portion of space, it is for us to decide to do research here." He paused for a moment.
"We do not like to be observed when performing delicate and potentially dangerous research; as we do not like to discuss our scientific research with people who clearly cannot fathom nor understand their purpose or meaning, you being a mere non-magical being. So yes, you might very well think we are 'paranoid'."

[Spyder]

"I see," the words 'hmm, interesting' were heard in the background, "Well, if you are indeed simply fearful of your surroundings then perhaps some additional protection is in order. Wolf Squadron, enter formation with the Uhla'ran, see that their scans are completed to their satisfaction and then allow them to leave."

The Captain muted the line.

"There seems to be a low energy distortion 10,000km off port."

"Was it there before?"

"No, it just appeared."

"Did they create it?" Asked the tactical officer.

"There is no discernable link between it and their vessel. I wouldn't rule it out as a possibility though." The science officer taps away, performing some basic vector arithmatic. "It's exactly 10,000 kilometers from their vessel as well, this would imply a relationship between between the anomaly and our positions."

"Perhaps we should ask them," the XO comments.

The Captain tapped his wristwatch as he thought for a moment. "No, the dumb normals with the blind sensors routine could work in our favour. Send a message to Command, let them know what's been happening out here and send a copy of the last half hour of our flight log."

[Dahak]

"I see," the words 'hmm, interesting' were heard in the background, "Well, if you are indeed simply fearful of your surroundings then perhaps some additional protection is in order. Wolf Squadron, enter formation with the Uhla'ran, see that their scans are completed to their satisfaction and then allow them to leave."

"Very well," the Air-Mage answered. "But we would like your ships to stand off at least a tenth light second. We are dealing with delicate sensors, and if you must be present, at least have the decency to not disturb our work any further." With a thought, he closed the hypercom connection.
"DataPort the High Command," he told his communications officer. "We'll be leaving in," he manifested a clock out of thin air, "about 2 hours. And it should be noted that these people are a bit touchy. And I might say agressive. Advise the High Command to conduct new operations further out or wait until the listening grid goes finally online. Oh," he added as an afterthought, "we might should tell these people about the listening post. More to the point, the 'trade station'."

[Lancer]

5-20 lightyears outside the Avalonian border:
Subspace activity in the Avalonian League peaked approximately 24 hours after the Falal'un had commenced construction on their "research station". For up to two-dozen lightyears around its major worlds, the Avalonian League was, for all intents and purposes, omniscient. However, as powerful as the planetary arrays were, they were only all-seeing within the 24 lightyear mark.

In the rare patches of territory the League had which fell outside of that range, sensor coverage was provided by monitoring satellites, mass-manufactured platforms which provided the same quality of coverage for only a five lightyear radius. They were unarmed, unarmored, and cheap to the point that locating and destroying one represented a much greater energy expenditure than construction and deployment of a replacement.

These same monitoring satellites were now being placed in overlapping intervals for twenty lightyears outside current Avalonian borders, both to be watchful for future incursions, and to identify worlds suitable for the next phase of expansion. The few that had been deployed close to the Falal'un installation had an additional module installed, a device which disrupted any passive sensors in a simple yet ingenious manner. The effect also gave the perfect pretense for the placement of the devices; long-term study and observation of "natural spacial phenomena."

Of course, the League would maintain a small patrol close to the Falal'un Installation, mainly to keep up appearances.

[Dahak]

Listening Post Tau'Ra'shio

A Voracity-class Battlecruiser, two Lev Nelt'chak-class Heavy Air Cruiser and five Renaya-class Destroyers slithered out of Netherspace right above the listening post.
Air-Mage Elraun, House Del'shu stood in the centre of the high-secret compartments deep within the bowels of the moon the listening post occupied as he observed their arrival. Though it was now officially a trade station, the High Command has seen fit to bestow it and the now-annexed system a proper name.
"What are our friends doing?" he asked the senior observation technician.
"Well," he looked quickly at a hovering image of the space around them, "they employed some hefty amounts of satellites, and they seem to use some kind of jammers."
"How does it affect us?" He asked curiously.
"It has detrimental effects on our more technological sensor systems. We get not much through them. We try to do our best with the data we received so far. Luckily, our Netherspace and Strata Interface detectors still can see beyond. At any rate, I daresay we still can function as planned, though with reduced effectiveness."

[Lancer]

With the official declaration that the Falal'un installation was now a trade station, a small convoy of Avalonian freighters cautiously made their way in-system, fully expecting the facility to be completed only a day after construction had commenced. After all, any non-backwater race should have either used prefabricated components or would possess the industrial capability to outright build such a "rudimentary" facility within a span of a few hours.

They took care to navigate around the area occupied by the Avalonian monitoring satellites, citing "hazardous subspace turbulence" in their official logs, and carried a small assortment of simple goods, mostly foodstuffs, decorative trinkets, and almost-painfully basic technological devices that the Falal'un would actually be able to use.

The freighters traveled unescorted through subspace, recieving telemetry from a public-access datanet which showed the locations of every non-Avalonian/Ancestor construct (as well as subspacial navigational hazards) within range of the sensor network, effectively precluding the possibility of being caught unaware by a pirate attack. They identified themselves as traders while still a lightyear away from the Falal'un installation, exited hyperlaunch half a lightminute out, and eased into a holding pattern to await clearance for docking on reactionless sublight drives.

[consequences]

Outer Edge, Kurak Space

Doken shrugged as the message came over the speaker.

He walked over to the communications section of the bridge and talked quietly with the techs there.

"That is fine with us. We are transmitting the location of one of our worlds. You are welcome to send a diplomatic delgation there. Though I must warn you that it would be a good idea for the ship, if they come, to drop out of FTL and announce who they are. Other wise they will get blown up." he finished with a slight grin.

"Send it." He gestured to the comms section, and walked off to the sensor and plotting section to see what they would do next.

Three brief shuttle transfers later, a small cruiser detached itself from the fleet, and departed for the coordinates given.

Shortly thereafer, it reappeared a dozen AU short of the specific point given, and broadcast: "This is the Ravener cruiser Third-Stringer, carrying a delegation for potential talks between our peoples. Specifics for arrival vector and holding position would be good, as we find people get unaccountably tetchy when we accidentally run over a transport or three."

Meanwhile...

__________________________________________________________
Several Non-descript unoccupied systems

The Second wave had quietly arrived, and began setting up to make a potential long-term stay at least semi-tolerable, cannibalising transport ships to provide basing modules, and to prevent an outbound track from increasing the likelihood of detection.

Meanwhile, the scouts of the first wave began drifting closer to their assigned observation subjects, learning all they could from emissions at each range before hopping a few light years closer to the imaginary line that marked probable detection. This process, while prolonged, also gave time to sort through the various signals and determine which worlds were more likely to still be in use, and which were just long-dead electronic ghosts.

[Oseng]

Empire of Kurak, one of 2 outer systems

A few minutes later a reply came back to the Ravener ship from the populated planet.

"This is Vokun planetary ship control. We are sending your arrival vector and holding postion. Do not deviate from your path, or you will be destroyed by the ships in route to escort you in. The Planetary Defense Grid will also be locked on to your vessel at all times while you are here."

Near the inner system a Blaze class Battlecruiser along with two Aero class Escorts took off toward the Third-Stringer

"The Governor, System Admiral, and PDF General are waiting for your arrival, along with various high ranking Nobles."


Elsewhere near the edge of the same system (Edited after PM with Dahak. I didn't make some things exactly clear enough, my fault and apolgies.)

Onboard the Shock class Heavy Cruiser Valiant an senior NCO manning the scyer stations looked up, and called the captain over.

"Captain I think we have something, looks like an aura ghost."

Captain Jess Fraiser stood up from her chair and looked at the readouts, before turning to face the Cheif.

"What do you think it is Cheif James, you know your job. You have been doing it since you joined the Navy."

James shrugged, before pointing to the data.

"I'll eat my uniform hat if that isn't a ship using some kind of magical cloak. A damn good cloak at that, I would wager. I only spotted it on a few scryers as an aura ghost every few minutes, and the scryers I spotted it with look at things most magic blind races don't even know exisit. Its quite a few light years out, as well."

Captain Fraiser nodded her head, and stood all the way up.

"Helm lay in course for this aura ghost. Comm inform the flagship of our intent and have the Templar and the Paladin form up on us."

A few short minutes later Valiant and its pair of Aero class escorts smoothly lept into FTL, coming out battle ready right next to the aura ghost. Less than a second after their arrival communications swept the area attempting contact, even as powerful magical sensors quested for a target.

In System Forces:
2 Meteor Battleships
3 Blaze Battlecruises
6 Shock Heavy Cruisers
20 Aero Escorts
33 Bolt Fighters
33 Flare Bombers

On Planet:
Planetary Defense Grid 50 points (Defense)
Planetary Milita 50 points (Defense)
166 Regular Ground Forces

[consequences]

Empire of Kurak, one of 2 outer systems

A few minutes later a reply came back to the Ravener ship from the populated planet.

"This is Vokun planetary ship control. We are sending your arrival vector and holding postion. Do not deviate from your path, or you will be destroyed by the ships in route to escort you in. The Planetary Defense Grid will also be locked on to your vessel at all times while you are here."

Near the inner system a Blaze class Battlecruiser along with two Aero class Escorts took off toward the Third-Stringer

"The Governor, System Admiral, and PDF General are waiting for your arrival, along with various high ranking Nobles."

"We have an individual on board who can speak for the Raveners"

The cruiser followed the course without fault. It also, of course, picked up every piece of information that could be acquired with passive sensor devices on the way in. It then began to wait patiently at the holding point, as the crew fired up the multiplayer gaming platforms, apart from Ensign Timmy, who'd drawn the short straw and had to take the first watch.

OOC: Single generic class cruiser, for all of eight points.

Force Correlation:
Raveners: 1 eight point target.
Kurak: 582 points of space based hurtfullness.

[Dahak]

The freighters traveled unescorted through subspace, recieving telemetry from a public-access datanet which showed the locations of every non-Avalonian/Ancestor construct (as well as subspacial navigational hazards) within range of the sensor network, effectively precluding the possibility of being caught unaware by a pirate attack. They identified themselves as traders while still a lightyear away from the Falal'un installation, exited hyperlaunch half a lightminute out, and eased into a holding pattern to await clearance for docking on reactionless sublight drives.

"Hm," Air-Mage Elraun, House Del'shu uttered. "They are quick about it..."
He called for an assistant.
"Mage Tr'ahan," he called her, "I would like you take over these freighters. I think one of the secondary docking holds would be suitable. Give them the grand tour of the trading facility."

***

After the ship has docked, the Mage welcomed the crew of the freighters. Mage Tr'ahan was what one amiably would call talkative. Some of her fellow officers were less amiably inclined. As she talked the crews into a silent submission, she walked them through the trade station. It still wasn't fully finished, in some parts one still could see rock transmutating into walls, rooms growing out of the floor. Boxes and crates floated around, vanished there, some others appeared out of thin air; it was a buzzing activity. And all truly related to trade. If they had to mask the outpost as a trade station, why not actually make money off it?

[Lancer]

After the ship has docked, the Mage welcomed the crew of the freighters. Mage Tr'ahan was what one amiably would call talkative. Some of her fellow officers were less amiably inclined. As she talked the crews into a silent submission, she walked them through the trade station. It still wasn't fully finished, in some parts one still could see rock transmutating into walls, rooms growing out of the floor. Boxes and crates floated around, vanished there, some others appeared out of thin air; it was a buzzing activity. And all truly related to trade. If they had to mask the outpost as a trade station, why not actually make money off it?

One of the Avalonians waited for an opportune moment, then asked, with some degree of confusion in his voice, why was the station not yet complete. After all, something as simple as a trade outpost should easily have been finished already, especially with so many construction-vessels assigned to the task. The other members of the party shot him a warning glance, but it was too late, the question had already been posed, and Mage Tr'ahan was no doubt eager to provide a more than adequate explanation.

Meanwhile at the secondary docking holds, the Avalonian trade-captain had commenced bartering. While he negotiated with a Falal'un merchant, his freighter began offloading a sample of the goods carried onboard. A trio of metal crates appeared behind him in a quick flash of white light, floating above the ground thanks to their tiny grav-suspensors. With a wave of his hand, the crates opened and revealed their contents. The first crate contained a colorful assortment of fruits and other foodstuffs. The second crate contained some intermediate materials used in the making of consumer goods, things such as exotic fabrics and decorative metals. The third crate contained assorted types of luxury goods, mostly jewelry of some manner or another.

[Dahak]

One of the Avalonians waited for an opportune moment, then asked, with some degree of confusion in his voice, why was the station not yet complete. After all, something as simple as a trade outpost should easily have been finished already, especially with so many construction-vessels assigned to the task. The other members of the party shot him a warning glance, but it was too late, the question had already been posed, and Mage Tr'ahan was no doubt eager to provide a more than adequate explanation.

Quelin Tr'ahan was quick with words, but behind her obvious mask, a cunning mind lurked. She got the warning glances, and was only too happy to answer the question.
"Oh dear," she started and some of the Falau'un around them rolled their eyes, "where shall I start? You see, I'm never good at this transmutation stuff, we have our specialists for it. Normally. This time, we seem to have the losers of the class. Really, it shouldn't be so hard to get this rock into form. But they keep telling that it is so awfully difficult rock. I tell you, my sister's mate's friend is one of those specialists and he never would have had that trouble. But you see, if they want to expand the Council House back home, you can't give away the best specialists, oh no. And of course, the constructors still want to make everything perfect, so they're polishing around at minute details and seem oblivious to the grand scheme of things. The Air-Mage is furious, of course, but let me tell you... He seems to have had an, well, relationship with the head constructor. Seems to make things difficult. But anyway, we're stuck with them now, so there's still hope they'll finish the really important parts here. If not, I guess some of the officers might take it up to themselves to finish it. But then we'd have the moaning of the constructors for ages. Had one of those... I think it was on the Hela'ra moons, 80 years ago." She paused for a moment. One of the freighter crew started to open his mouth, but he wasn't quick enough. "No, I guess it was 85 years. Always slips by so fast, time. I tell you it was such a debacle..."
While she went on talking, she started moving again, down another corridor.

Meanwhile at the secondary docking holds, the Avalonian trade-captain had commenced bartering. While he negotiated with a Falal'un merchant, his freighter began offloading a sample of the goods carried onboard. A trio of metal crates appeared behind him in a quick flash of white light, floating above the ground thanks to their tiny grav-suspensors. With a wave of his hand, the crates opened and revealed their contents. The first crate contained a colorful assortment of fruits and other foodstuffs. The second crate contained some intermediate materials used in the making of consumer goods, things such as exotic fabrics and decorative metals. The third crate contained assorted types of luxury goods, mostly jewelry of some manner or another.

The officer of the dock took a look at the stuff they transported in the crates. He sniffed at the foodstuff and fruits. He quickly took a step back and looked slightly sick at the trade-captain. "That stuff smells horrifying. I doubt we'll be seeing that much around here. Ghastly stuff."
He looked at the other crates. The fabrics especially spiked his interest. He touched them, felt it. "Hm," he murmurred, "feels good. I think with this, we'll get into business. But let's not wait out here. If you'd join me inside? Much more comfortable and I could show you around our offering."

[Thirdfain]

-post moot-

[Lancer]

[OOC]
The freighter crew are just traders, not Avalonian military officers. They don't really know that the "trade outpost" is much bigger than it looks, just that it seems like an awful lot of effort is being put into such a tiny place.

The telemetry they get from the public-access datanet has been filtered to omit the positions of Avalonian installations and vessels, as well as other potentially sensitive pieces of information (such as the full extent of Falal'un activity in the region). Hence, to their knowledge, the unusual subspace activity in the region between Avalonian space and the Falal'un trade outpost is a naturally ocurring phenomenon, and the Falal'un trade outpost is just a trade outpost being constructed by borderline-incompetent lowest-bidders.
[/OOC]

Quelin Tr'ahan was quick with words, but behind her obvious mask, a cunning mind lurked. She got the warning glances, and was only too happy to answer the question.
<snip Tr'ahan humoring the Avalonian visitors>
While she went on talking, she started moving again, down another corridor.

The same crewman that had sent Tr'ahan off on a tangent nodded, not quite satisfied with her explanation but willing to accept that any further elaboration on her part would not be particularly enlightening. At another intersection where construction work was still underway, he stopped to ask why the Falal'un didn't pursue the seemingly obvious solution.

"If these specialists of yours are performing so poorly, why not simply bring in machines to perform the job instead? Multichannel beam-fabbers would have dug out and reinforced these tunnels and chambers rather easily."

The officer of the dock took a look at the stuff they transported in the crates. He sniffed at the foodstuff and fruits. He quickly took a step back and looked slightly sick at the trade-captain. "That stuff smells horrifying. I doubt we'll be seeing that much around here. Ghastly stuff."
He looked at the other crates. The fabrics especially spiked his interest. He touched them, felt it. "Hm," he murmurred, "feels good. I think with this, we'll get into business. But let's not wait out here. If you'd join me inside? Much more comfortable and I could show you around our offering."

The trade-captain nodded and followed the dock officer, hands folded behind his back. The second and third crates folded shut and moved to follow them, while the first crate was beamed back onto the freighter in a quick flash of light.

[Adrian Laguna]

"I'm sure we can make the neccessary arrangements," Jacob replied, "there's a lot of spare room in this complex, and it is basically what it's designed for."

"We'd like to return the favor with the establishment of a Guild Union Embassy on one of your worlds. The embassy can be used to contact the Guilds, the various patron worlds and even Concord should the situation call for it." Sutiri speaks.

"Given their nature, they usually take up a little more space then a conventional embassy, but we'd be more then willing to lease the land and it beats having to establish contact with over thirty different organisations within the region." Alastair smiles broadly at the Mekidar diplomats.

"The most logical place for the Guild Union Embassy would be our capital. However, the atmosphere there would swiftly kill a Human or anyone else with similar environmental requirements. Your people would be unable to go outside the embassy, and their homes, without environmental suits. This might be somewhat unconfortable. Alternatively, the beautiful Nurus Secundus is quite compatible with your needs, since we terraformed it specifically for the refugees coming from the Nurus Federation."

<<Unidentified vessel. This system and the entirety of Kreshayan territory are under interdiction by order of the City and Empire for crimes against it's citizens and property. Identify yourself immediately.>>

The ship remained silent. Nothing was transmitted, no engines fired, no power spikes.

"When they hail us again reply with the following: 'This is LC-64 Boulder of the Mekidar Republic. Who are you and what is your quarrel with the Silver Flame?' Make sure the question has an inflection of curiosity, and is not demanding." The captain of the ship ordered. "What is the ETA?"

"T-minus forty seconds."

After that time elapsed, the ship would be less than two light seconds from the Iron Fleet. A distance deemed close enough to get a good look at the ominous armada.

"Such imaginary lines do have a rather important purpose though, they serve as a marker for trespass or incursion. Baring ones throat to an unknown is not a good means of continued species survival, I doubt many would disagree with this no matter how alien."

"We understand that, which is why we proposed borders centered around something concrete. A fixed radius around each system you have a significant precence in would do nicely."

"In my opinion, an isolationist policy is never successful in the long-run. Unless one has powerful friends, and said friends have a vested interest in one's survival."

[Spyder]

"The most logical place for the Guild Union Embassy would be our capital. However, the atmosphere there would swiftly kill a Human or anyone else with similar environmental requirements. Your people would be unable to go outside the embassy, and their homes, without environmental suits. This might be somewhat unconfortable. Alternatively, the beautiful Nurus Secundus is quite compatible with your needs, since we terraformed it specifically for the refugees coming from the Nurus Federation."

The spacing guild representative laughs politely. "Oh hostile atmospheres won't be an issue. The spacers have spent centuries perfecting means for atmospheric protection. Besides, we have over 2,000 different species on record. I'm sure we can find someone that can breath it."

[Dahak]

"If these specialists of yours are performing so poorly, why not simply bring in machines to perform the job instead? Multichannel beam-fabbers would have dug out and reinforced these tunnels and chambers rather easily."

Mage Tr'ahan wrinkled her forehead, as if someone had asked a very, very stupid question.
"Why would we use such things as technology? It's clearly inferior. And anyways, if they used machinery, wouldn't mean they'd be better. That the specialists are allowed to do it that way, and we let them, is more a matter of tradition and politics than capability. If we wanted, we could do it in a heartbeat, as I told you. But the political backlash would be tremendous, no matter how you did it. This operation is headed by House Da'shu, the constructors are headed by House Ley'yan. The problems should be obivous..."

The trade-captain nodded and followed the dock officer, hands folded behind his back. The second and third crates folded shut and moved to follow them, while the first crate was beamed back onto the freighter in a quick flash of light.

Inside the main complex, a comfortable office waited for them. He offered them seats and sat inside his floating chair.
"So, what would you be interested in return for your fabrics and luxuries? We have a variety of possibilites."
Suddenly, life-like images sprung into being next to the trade crew and hovered in the air. Falau'un fabrics, delicate jewelry, raw materials, complex chemicals and other things.

[Dahak]

Elsewhere near the edge of the same system (Edited after PM with Dahak. I didn't make some things exactly clear enough, my fault and apolgies.)

Onboard the Shock class Heavy Cruiser Valiant an senior NCO manning the scyer stations looked up, and called the captain over.

"Captain I think we have something, looks like an aura ghost."

Captain Jess Fraiser stood up from her chair and looked at the readouts, before turning to face the Cheif.

"What do you think it is Cheif James, you know your job. You have been doing it since you joined the Navy."

James shrugged, before pointing to the data.

"I'll eat my uniform hat if that isn't a ship using some kind of magical cloak. A damn good cloak at that, I would wager. I only spotted it on a few scryers as an aura ghost every few minutes, and the scryers I spotted it with look at things most magic blind races don't even know exisit. Its quite a few light years out, as well."

Captain Fraiser nodded her head, and stood all the way up.

"Helm lay in course for this aura ghost. Comm inform the flagship of our intent and have the Templar and the Paladin form up on us."

A few short minutes later Valiant and its pair of Aero class escorts smoothly lept into FTL, coming out battle ready right next to the aura ghost. Less than a second after their arrival communications swept the area attempting contact, even as powerful magical sensors quested for a target.

"They are looking for us, Sir," Lesser Air-Mage Coren'tian commented as he looked into the VisuaPort from the sensors. "They try to find us, and contact us, too."
"Maneuvre us away from them. Slowly. And prepare to leave for another system. We'll go into deep stealth. If they still seem to be able to see us, we'll leave as quietly as we can and take position at another location."