by Max Barry

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War for the Core: The End of Neutrality Part One New Saharia

President Night Watch has been quite sorrowful as she has been doing nothing but waiting for the naval construction for the past three months. She was nothing but absolute outrage over the Union's military situation and the debt owed. She has seen to it that the Union has begun being built up much faster than it was at the start of the recovery from the Thestral-Coloina War, and, with the recovery finally completed three months ago, it has reached prewar levels, there was the matter of avoiding ending up in that war situation it found itself in the during the Thestral-Coloninal War where it was going to push its industry much further then they were prior eve while paying off its debt.

Like other nations, The Theatrical Union was appalled by the Orwellian Government's actions but kept quiet about it. Its debt was still being paid to the Orwellian company DOLOS AEC, paying back debt for the ships purchased shortly after the Thestral-Coloinal War Ended, a small amount of its debt but was slowly paying less and less of it which was a thing that would seem like it is going towards rebuilding which is what was of a sort as while the economy of the Union is fully recovered ignoring the debt the issue was the debt which it would have been paying back as fast as possible if not for who that would help.

In reality, extra funds were being diverted to building Thestral Ships to prepare to harm Orwellia to make them pay for their atrocity and to ensure that the reputation of the Thestral Union was not still hurt by the Thestral-Coloninal War instead stood as a nation that fought for justice is the galaxy and also no longer have to pay its debt which would not only end the drain on the Thestral Economy but also help out by not indirectly funding it's allies' enemies by accident. But she was about to make a risky decision. She was in her office looking very formal when she decided to call on the communications lines to see if Executor Ellecon would pick up and respond, so she had to wait to see.

Shambhalah wrote:The Furious Dragons would unload their entire missile bays at the enemy, before propelling themselves forth and firing off their flak missiles. They seemed to sacrifice themselves mostly, but decided to go down on their own terms... or rather the orders given to them by command. Destroy the enemy vessels!

The fighter and bomber screen arc-ed their way to the left of the Alphox fleet, heading for the Breen's own. Ultimately trying to force the Breen ships to engage themselves to protect against their assualt. These fighters and bombers began to accelerate rather quickly, with the SOTAHSEL ships taking the lead, aiming down center and right towards the largest of the Breen vessels, opening fire with their barrage of 25 anti-ship missiles. Malaya Vipers would be located in the middle, sitting at on the flanks of the Furahi bombers, and letting loose their soul wispers behind them. The souls screeched off, providing a sort of disorienting flare effect, and rather... unhappy screams of the damned, even in the vacuum. These souls fizzled out, but served to disrupt visual and automated systems with their bright glare.

With the advanced fleet in a variety of Breen systems, they would focus on locking down the systems, while others began to jump between them, reinforcing other of the smaller fleets and helping to assist them. Most groups were between 1,000 - 5,000 strong, split between the systems almost randomly. It was as if they were striking from everywhere at once, while others hunkered down with their own pre-fabricated stations. They hoped to wear down the massive fleets of the Breen down, utilizing the stations and constant barrage of missiles and partical-beamers against the enemy vessels, and the stations.

With the ISN Hoyau upon the Breen fleet, and its contingent of Battleships close, yet far behind, it would begin its attack. Both ends of the mighty ship glowed brightly, fading from red, orange, yellow, then to a blue and white, before unleashing massive beams of pure fusion in both directions, while smaller vents on the Hoyau's side exuded smaller flame jets to deter bombers and starships from wandering close, despite the fact that it was already as close as could be to the fleet.

The battleships following the Hoyau stayed their distance, but opened fire from afar with their heavy turbolasers, and railcannons.

SHAMBHALAH

Sitting in his throne, Emperor Zynn leaned forwards as the group of Sai-Alphox approached him. "Representing Admiral Myrte and the forces... outside of the wormhole. Military advisors, of the expedition." The steward read off a small parchment of paper, printed cleanly and in robotic type-lettering.

"What is it?" Zynn asked, his arms folded, and hands clasped. "Yes, yes, we're here to ask for additional vessels for the expedition, just enough to help in our assualt upon the forces of the north..." The Sai-Alphox bowed as he spoke. "Specifically the procurement of specialized ships, such as your flagship."

Zynn thought for a moment, staring down at the diminutive creatures. "The war will progress further until I can give you those ships, but I will authorize the use of..." he would pause and think, looking up slowly, "Snow Tiger's Roar, and The Little Prince, alongside a group of those black ships. That is what you'll be given."

The group bowed, "We'll do our best with these ships, but we may need to conduct a larger assualt in the coming days." The Sai-Alphox explained. "Yes, I know, I've readied ships all across the systems for standard reinforcements, just make sure those gates are kept open."

Nodding, the Sai-Alphox would leave, a long line trailing out the door behind them of many more petitioners to the emperor, from all corners of the empire.

The Breen fighters and interceptors used their manoeuvrability to vear and skirt out of the way of the Furious Dragons's guns. While many dozen of the fighters and interceptors were destroyed or disabled, forced to flee the engagement and return to their mother-crafts, the others pushed forward. Those that remained let lose their photonic torpedos, the warheads set to maximum detonation, as their used their smaller cannons to weaken the enemy's shield's just enough to let their payloads through. As the Furious Dragons began to burn, the fighters turned their attention back to the main Shambhalah fleet and continued their almost suicidal attack.

Meanwhile, Breen crafts back at the main fleet, seeing the bombers incoming, began to form into a "boxed" wall formation, keeping their larger vessels near the centre rear as the more nimble destroyers and their defensive weaponry formed the front of this wall. While many of the Breen destroyers near the front-right of the formation had their tracing systems disrupted by the shrieks of the souls, the ships behind them provided ample cover fire, targeting the anti-ship missiles. While some of the missiles were turned to ash on the Breen shields, others missiles found their mark. Several Breen Crafts went up in balls of green fire as the anti-ship warheads detonated on their hulls, marking the first truly meaningful losses for the Breen, with around 130 ships winked from existence. But the formation behind these downed crafts simple filed in the gaps, using the boxed formation to screen the further attacks and rendering any hole in the Breen lines mute. Still the battle was fierce as Breen defensive guns engaged with the Vipers and Furahi bombers, while the SOTAHSEL were singled out by more powerful poloron beams.

Back at the rear of the formation, the massive dreadnaught the Zirthan and the ISN Hoyau exchanged blows. The Pure Fusion beam was intercepted by the behemoth's Refraction Matrix just in time, with most of its deadly energy folded back into the void or flowing over the Zirthan, but still internal temperatures began to quickly climb as fusion fire licked the hull and stained the metal below black. To protect their larger brother craft, several of the Breen Ukquare Battlecubes broke from the larger formation, coming to the aid of the Zirthan as their formed a ring around the larger craft. They too began to fire off volleys of missiles, photonic and polaron cannon bursts as they sought to match the assault of the Hoyau support craft. Many of the Battlecubes focused fire on the Hoyau too, hoping to overwhelm the shielding and at the very least compromise the fusion gun's containment fields.

THE SOUTHERN FRONT

The Jade Armada's constant jumping in and out of different systems frustrated the Breen to no end, as battle reports and fleet engagement size estimates continued to fluctuate, generating confusion of priority between the various breen battlegroups. Many Breen ships failed to keep formation in their diorientation, easily singled out at destroyed by the Jade's ships. However, the Breen fleets in the various systems, coupled with local defensive flotillas, managed to keep the various pitched battles under control. Using the advantage provided by the A combination of the fire from the various star stations, planetary defense platforms, and their own ships the Breen managed to keep the Shambhalah for fully utilized the Breen confusion. Many to the defending formations at least matched, and in many cases outnumbered, the Jade Armada's various groups. With elements of the 3rd and 4th fleets on the way, however, the war would soon turn.

BORDER LANDS

Slipping past all the fighting and bloodshed, the Grey Order had been let off its collar. its fleet of stealth ships ignored the war in the south, and instead warped their way to the Shambhalahan border. meaning up with the various stealth ships which had been sent into their stead and the information they had gathered, the Grey Order began to focus on specific targets within the border systems of the enemy nation. Ranging from supply depots to logistical centers, nothing would be off the table . . .

But for now, they stayed in the shadow . . . waiting and primed . . .

The Breen wrote:snippi

The fleet began to press in now, applying pressure as the ISN Hoyau attacked from behind. The battleship contingent of the Hohau engaged the Breen fleet now as well, firing off salvos of missiles from different angles. Myrte's fleet would use their nuclear batteries against the formations brought up by the Breen, aiming center mass in an attempt to disable the larger vessels, and hopefully scatter the others as a byproduct of the blasts.

The bulk of the fleet would begin to split, with some going up and the others below, attempting to hit them from above and below with a flurry of missile fire... which the Alphox had plenty of. Ships would shoot up and down, from different angles with lasers and missiles and railcannons.

The fighters and bombers were now joined by the larger vessels as they pushed up, and would continue to fly further ahead and fire from long range with their homing missiles and partical-beamers. SOTAHSEL fighters would break contact, before approaching again, and doing so over and over and over... inching closer and closer as they constantly attempted to evade enemy fire.

Fleets along the southern border continued their attacks, with groups converging larger and larger with each strike, before attempting to single out systems one-by-one in larger groupings, with only a few other fleets striking here and there to keep up the pressure. These larger fleets would hope to suprise the Breen, who are so far used to the small groupings of forces, and to catch them off guard with high amounts of firepower and munitions, before attempting to lock down various other sectors.

Vel'othi engineering was ready to put to work. New ships would be mustered and shipped out for service from various dockyards across Shambhalah, with two of the new heavy battleships being sent to help reinforce Myrte's fleet. They would utilize the gates to quickly travel, before ftl-ing into the Alphox controlled territory behind Myrte's line.

Kinmoon wrote:"If you will follow us, we can grant you a meeting with one of Quilla's speakers. Aboard this ship of course." The usanine would say, the other turning around as the doors to inner-ship were unlocked and opened. A long hallway would be revealed, lights smoothly turning on and illuminating the shiny black floors and walls of the ship.

The two diplomats from the neighborhood would be led through the halls for quite some time, and they could notice small orbs of light permeating the ships, floating the halls silently. Once the usanines turned a corner, they would hurry the two into a room with a large display monitor, and would join them.

Inputting something, another usanine would fix the screen and monitor, a smoke filling various tubes around the room. Besides that, the display monitor turned on, revealing a robed figure, wearing a golden and colorful bundle of clothes, and with feathers covering their face. Looked to be one of the priests, if anything.

The usanines would converse in their own language for a minute, before allowing Daniel and Diane to speak.

"And what is it you ask of us here on Raylon?" Despite being a few AUs away, the transmission was smooth... there was definitely more going on here than just pure tech.

The two neighbors, in their green plaid, looked dull and prudish compared with the colorful clothing and sleek figures of the Usanine delegations. Admittedly, the display with the smoke and monitors was quite impressive. The neighbors took mental notes to report on later, they were a much more pragmatic people and their technology didn't have much for a show factor. Once they were finally summoned to speak, Daniel would take the lead:

"We simply request that Her Majesty's forces obtain what is rightfully theirs in Saharia while they are still weak- that is, bluntly, joining us and the Orellians side-by-side in a front against Viskovan hegemony."

He folded his hands, leaning in with the inflection of a master salesman. All three of his eyes stared into the Usanine intently, as if trying to read for any micro-indication of agreement.

"We know you assaulted Tamira a long time ago, and nearly obtained it at that. We also know that Ellecon of Viskova defiantly refused Her Majesty's request for tribute. Saharia is currently entering a multi-front war against Orellia and the Neighborhood- also known by codename "Pristine Communities". Saharia has no idea of our true scale, and will bleed itself in attrition."

He leaned back, nodding to Diane to keep speaking.

> "It is so, yes. But our intelligence apparatus is not misguided by arrogance. We know that Saharia is currently operating on a peace-time economy and barring some certain players has the most powerful military in the galaxy. Timmy is more than capable of keeping Saharia out of the Neighborhood, and is more than capable of devouring all of her allies and bleeding Viskova in proxy wars, but we also know that Ellecon will make this conflict in the core the defining point of his political career and so will spare no effort in obtaining victory."

Daniel nodded matter-of-factly, addressing the priest of Quilla with a grand gesture of his arms.

> "And Orellia, even with our help, may not withstand that affront. And what will happen when Orellia falls to both Saharia and her many, many underlings? The opportunity to shift the astropolitical balance of galactic power north will forever be lost. You see, every single one of Saharia's allies are weak. VIXXEN International has no significant military to speak of. Aurelia is a wild-card. Solaria is corrupt. The Breen have been defeated by Orellia of all nations, and so on and so forth."

Diane continues the thought, almost as if they were thinking with the same mind.

> "Saharia will never be as weak as it currently is again. Ellecon needs to be popular at home to retain power, and a post-war Saharia will firmly solidify a Saharian puppet bloc in the core that will never be broken. That post-war situation would be ideal for Ellecon's retirement and the re-democratization of Viskova and her subjects."

And what if we win?

> "Well," Daniel put it. "If we defeat Saharia through our cooperation and spreading them thin, that creates an opening to finally evolve the galactic stronghold of humanity and make them perfect. And once they evolve, they'll never be an issue to Her Majesty's dominion again because they're too busy being perfect, model, neighbors."

The two left the air silence to allow their words to sink in.

The Aurelian Empire wrote:0.33 SCARLET HANDSHAKE
"That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils."

|| Scarlet Handshake | On the precipice of bronze

| An atmosphere of breif exchange switching from Aurelian basic and Sprye chatter kept the chamber in busy pace with the advent of the ship's docking procedure, simply short phrases cutting back and forth with pleasant clicks and buzzes occupying the space between transmissions. The craft itself grew with every moment of approach, what seemed like a small daisy freely spinning in the sea of space slowly became an enormous flowerpiece which flickered in aged colours against the parallax paradime of the bronze which shifted hues with every change in perspective.
| A directional breath kicked the crown and flipped the ship with a delicate and simple maneuver, gliding with soft speed before stopping in a gentle pause. The Aurelians, unsurprised, watched with nonchalant as the ship engaged the parking initiation: Petals ejecting from the seam of the sepal arched against the vast tongue of metal with a deliberate curve which somehow seemed to support the monstrous weight of the craft with comfortable ease.
~
| Following the cue of the finishing permissions dialogue, cautiously lengthy and cleverly worded - as the Aurelians are known to be, the Sprye crew and command technics gave their attention to the officer who in turn took a shallow bow to Songroot: Prompting it for orders.
| Compact eyes in a circle looked to the flower, an attentive stare that said: "At your word."
| It gave an intentional glare back, letting some excitement build before calmly nodding - a worldless order which spurred them into the stations for preparing to unload material at further order, they streamed across the chamber through the aperture in a chaotic yet orderly line leaving only Songroot and a small group of royal guards.
~
| Unfurling from the side of the ship, almost directly frontward of the Aurelian grouping, a verdent carpet extended outward rolling through mid air and across a small section of bronze forming a simple ramp as an entryway. Songroot from the top of the ship sailed gracefully down the carpet with a surreal glide, orienting almost absurdly well with its preposterous bends and windings before touching ground, a pair of spri guards hovering about it as it did with an obsessive focus.
| The flower turned its attention to its hosts, who from a distance even in their casual form seemed pensively curious but unconcerned, they approached eachother to meet beofre the ship.
| Songroot met them face to face, extending a welcoming limb out as it sung forth its greetings: "Sunlight rises above the horizon".

Political Favoring \\\ FreeAmericanStates \\\ Coalition Remnants

Deep in the halls of the Feisen Exchange, R. Zon the Eighth and M. Ronald the Seventh had just finished a very productive meeting with a new business partner. Standing on the balcony overlooking the main exchange, Michael removed a cigar from his pocket. Trimming the end and lighting it, Raven finally made her way over. Still talking on the phone.

"Yes, yes. At least that much. If you need additional liquidity, draw it from the reparations account. Failing that, dip into my own savings."

"Yes, thank you. I appreciate your work. I'll be sure to write you a bonus at the end of the term. Yes yes. Buh-bye!"

Hanging it up and sticking it into her pocket, the click of the young womans heels stopped as she got to the balcony. Grabbing the cigar from Michael's fingers, she dropped it to the floor and stomped it out.

"We aren't VIXXEN. Smoke in the designated chambers."

A bit offended at her actions, Michael stood up straight and sized the woman up.

"Sure we aren't VIXXEN, but not even up here? Cmon."

"No, Ronald. You can't smoke up here. This is a clean establishment."

"Fine. What's the news?"

"Jessica is gonna work on a meeting. She's reaching out to the ISF proper to secure us a diplomatic line. We're gonna have to haggle, though."

"I know we are. Unless we want to go beg Eithan for a discount, they're gonna need to make us right. How much of it do we have laying around here?"

"We still don't have many clients. But they agreed to take it as a number in an account, at least. We don't need to worry much about those stupid gold coins. Except for how we are gonna use them here."

Raven finished off, looking down at the ashes. Walking back inside the halls, she returned with a dustpan and brush. Squatting down she cleaned up the cigar, before Michael spoke.

"We can negotiate if they have holdings in anything else. Or just melt the gold down and use it for wiring."

"Then we would need someone who would want to buy a bunch of ballistic heavy ships everyone thinks are obsolete."

"Can we just convince them they aren't obsolete?"

"Doubt it."

Picking up the dustpan, Raven dumped it into a nearby trash can, clipping the dustpan and brush together and setting it on one of the lounge tables, before she leaned over the railing.

"At least this gets us in the door with the union. Who knows, they might have something we can bring to market here."

~~~

A few hours later, one of the Thestral diplomats was slipped an envelope. The contents of it contained an offer, a Feisen company will pay back all of their debt to DOLOS AEC, in exchange for the Thestrals now being indebted to them instead, with an option for a discount.

The letter was signed with two names, the first one in cursive was 'Raven M. Zon 8' and the second was completely normal, written just 'Michael Ronald.' RonZon was probably not a name that the Thestrals heard often, other than they were the biggest company currently working in the Orellian-Feisen Economic zone.

RonZon is going to pay back all of the Thestral debts to DOLOS AEC if accepted
DOLOS AEC is going to be receiving an account with the debt amount at the Exchange, allowing them to choose any currency, split or singular, to accept their debt repayment.
RZ is further going to try and haggle the Thestrals to get them to pay back a significant portion of their current outstanding balance.

We're not VIXXEN \\\ VIXXEN International

"Earlier, you said something. We're not VIXXEN."

Mike said, lifting a fresh cigar to his lips and taking a puff.

Blowing it out, he turned to look at his computer screen.

"I get you hate my sense of humor. What if we took those OLM's and sold them to VIXXEN?"

Mike said, taking another taste of the cigar smoke.

"It sounds really messed up. Would DOLOS even approve of that?"

She responded, with heavy breaths. Rapid footfalls as she turned the treadmill up faster.

"Yeah, they would. I asked one of them beforehand. VIXXEN, maybe a few others. But I know that those inferior foxes are looking. And there is no time like the present."

"I know. The Will of Fena, or whatever those weirdos say."

"It isn't a weird thing. We have express permission to help Orellia. We can use it to our advantage and game the markets. We start with VIXXEN, our main competitor, who is already on the backfoot."

"More like flat on their rear."

"True. They are doing terrible. We can make their situation better and worse, why not?"

"I see what you mean. How do we get it done, though? If they open the crates and see Orellia plastered all over, we are in deep."

"We change packaging, we scrape off any labels and apply our own. Its all licensed from the Millworks. I'll call Lamira, get physical copies of any license they have, and get us the same. We have the industrial base, so it won't take much for us to retool and mix our own production in."

"Alright. If you can handle that side, I can try and negotiate."

"I want to be there too, Rav."

~~~

The offer was extended not long after. VIXXEN wanted military supplies, they were gonna get them. The Fox Millworks quality, best in the galaxy, for substantially under market value, and without all the red tape and morality attached. It was available now, they just needed to let the RZ delegates come negotiate and work out all the paperwork.

buy my guns foxman

A Perfect Neighborhood wrote:snip

Staring the delegate simply nodded, eyes unblinking. "Yes, indeed..." he seemed to have ignored a few many things, but looked to have the gist of it. "We have enough force to spare, Quilla will see what she can spare for your forces."

"The Karehame and Black Swimmers, specifically, will be able to help in these efforts, along with those who you stand with now, the Carnivorette and her crew. Forces from Quilla herself will mostly be Raelings, you'll see them in the coming days." The delegate went on to explain further, before finishing, screen slowly fading out.

"There you go, expect not a massive amount of forces though, the Black Swimmers are currently refitting most of their warships and creating new Val-Naukkas, but you'll see them soon, surely. The Karehame will have access to the newer vessels though." The flat-black Usanine diplomat in the room told them. "Now... I could see about asking the Morphexians, but there's rumors that they have gone rogue, so I'll petition the Poko Araka. You may not these groups, but they're powerful, and Saharia faced them once, and their allies paid the price heavily against the vassal states."

The Usanine pondered, and seemed to be finished explaining the finer details to the Neighborhood's delegates. "If you have anything else you would like to let us know, tell us, but I assume you will be leaving now?" His translator device hummed quietly, a few reverberating electronic blips sounding as he talked.

INTERMISSION: BEATING HEART OF THE MACHINE

~

Ka-thump. Ka-thump. Ka-thump.

The Aurelian Empire had never been known for being "peaceful."

In fact, within the reaches of the Pelion Cage - it was known for being an expansionist, warlike nation - a tidal wave of conquest, a military power so strong even self-made deities crumbled before it. That was a hundred years ago; when the last Age of Expansion ended, a vast majority of the Empire's factories simply... shut down. Waiting for the moment when Aurelia would call upon them again to make weapons of war.

See, the Empire didn't really have any sort of "civilian" industry, to put it lightly. Of course, the real truth of the matter was far from that. It didn't quite matter in the heat of the moment, because all factories contained the same universal blueprints required to synthesize just about anything from essence.

During times of relative peace, that was what they would do. Make civilian goods. This was a rather inefficient way of producing them - as providing the raw resources and using thaumaturgy to fuse them together was far less essence intensive. Over the past few centuries though, Aurelia had built up a massive stockpile of thaumaturgic storage. They had the essence to spare.

For a while, all was good within the Empire. All was well. The population gradually got more and more antsy - some calling for a new wave of expansion and warfare, something that would give them a reason to fight...

But those voices were quiet. A minority.

Ka-thump. Ka-thump. Ka-thump.

When the Pelion Cage fell, and Garellia was laid bare for the Aurelians to explore - those voices cried out again, demanding blood.

Why shouldn't we take our rightful place as rulers of this galaxy? Why do you hold us back so, from teaching true perfection? Why should we not grow, expand, conquer, and test our mettle against new foes?

To put it simply, the Aurelian Empire wasn't prepared. Technology was a completely alien concept; the notion that things like space travel could be conducted without the use of thaumaturgy was absurd. And yet, here they were. Some time was needed to analyze and prepare for these new foes. Hundreds of thousands of researchers - nay, millions - put their minds together, devising ever more destructive weapons to take down a foe which had never seen them before.

Rend Engines. Project ThauMEGA. Controlled essence-ether fission bombs.

For once, all restrictions were lifted. Even those relating to the manipulation of the Aion - or Elderspace, as some liked to call it - were no longer off limits. That was how the Thaumic Faulmette was synthesized, in all its terrible wonder. A lot of these were still in progress, of course. In the span of ten years, however, great leaps had been made.

Even Rend Engines were no longer a concept; more were being mounted on almost all of the Empire's greatest and strongest ships. Ancient technology lost to time - was now revitalised for a new Age of Expansion.

Ka-thump. Ka-thump. Ka-thump.

The Orellians were only the catalyst of a change that was a long time coming. When one Province goes to war...

The entire Empire follows.

Being in a perpetual war economy had its benefits, you see. The order was given out to revitalise all inert factories; the Aurelian military complex was being reinforced, one underground facility at a time. Machines roared to life - automated souls feeding essence into machines, printing out plates of Imperial Bronze and components in droves. The Exploratores were buying up these products in bulk, too - all to summon new naval vessels into existence.

Production of one Zarski-class Star Obliterator was put into motion, and the Exploratores were given as much essence as was needed to complete it. Niribala-class death ships were also being reactivated; any one of these vessels would bankrupt multiple star systems to run, let alone build.

Lucky for the Empire, they had the industrial capacity.

The time is now.

Now is the time for action.

Don't look back...

Because it's showtime.

~

Ka-thump. Ka-thump.

...Ka-thump.

Outta the Box \\\ The Aurelian Empire

As one of the G2's swung the door wide, she collided with another one.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Sorry, sorry."

Slinking right on past, 'she' wiped her mouth. A quick look at their reflection. Sneaking through the groups of security, the figure made their way into the storage room. Pressing 'her' hand against the lock, the appendage shifted and melted into a black goop. With a soft click, the door opened. A bag reeking of that foul magic from the lab inside. Quickly grabbing it and throwing it over a shoulder, they closed the door and made way for the airlock. And as the maintenance cycle began, they stepped inside. Complete depressurization didn't seem to bother the figure, despite a lack of a pressure suit. And as the other side opened, they pushed off.

Free of the nullification field, his disguise melted away. And with a quick portal hop to Saharia, the blue eyed, vest clad man walked up to a certain fox, throwing the bag at her, and leaving.

~~~

Several light years from the Aurelian border, they could detect the force of another being approaching. Something powerful, sat inside of a star fighter.

Within a few hundred AU it turned on its IFF. Seventails, of the Feisen Republic. Exiting jump at the edge of the system, the fighter hailed.

"Hello, Aurelian Empire. I am Sur Junko of the Feisen Republic. I spoke with one of your agents over a public comm line. He is facilitating a trade with me. I have brought a few bits of tech from another nation, as well as something else. An Ether-Artifact from the original United Coalition. They said they were a Kamiera. I just want to trade some of the stuff I don't care about, for some stuff I potentially would care about."

She clarified, fighter come to a complete stop. There were several more hovering around it, but there was no indication they were piloted. Like a slaved piece of technology.

FreeAmericanStates wrote:Several letters were sent back to President Dolf of the Solarian Union and marked by various Thestral Government Agencies. Some are postal related, such as a letter from the Equissian Delivery Service, a seemingly oddly named postal service covering the Thestral Union with its letter stating items like those sent by President Dolf chocolates should be placed within heart-shaped packages only; however, the other sweets are correctly packaged. Still, they are willing to waive the fee; they would do such a service themselves to avoid causing issues with President Night Watch's Love Life. Still, they never expected her to apparently be dating a stallion, let alone a human one, even if said human was the head of state in another country. Other letters from another government organization calling itself the United Regency of Equissian States, President of the Thestral Union is also apparently the leader of the United Regency of Equissian States. According to the info, she will become a prime minister upon forming a unified Equissian state as a monarchy. This agency's concern is on the aspect as such gifts used in such quantities could be seen as a way of calling her as either a very romantic gesture or effectively calling her a whore. These warnings from government agencies were the beginning of what he would receive related to the gifts sent out to President Night Watch.

These letters would not reach the President, but rather his support Staff. they would respond by resending the gift, but with a notice from Solarian Postal that it was not intended as the above and was a gift of friendship. This would surely remove any danger whatsoever.

Judahite wrote:|| Scarlet Handshake | On the precipice of bronze

| Songroot met them face to face, extending a welcoming limb out as it sung forth its greetings: "Sunlight rises above the horizon".

0.33 SCARLET HANDSHAKE

What a curious little ship, no?

There were not many others like it. Whilst Aurelian ships were malleable, yes, the Boundary's vessels were something else entirely. Plants... in space. Honestly, the Empire wouldn't have thought that it was even possible - if the Maigsters Guild and the Exploratores hadn't confirmed otherwise.

Therefore, it was with placid observations that they saw the ship dock with the torus-shaped station. A clamour of hands and legs, a menagerie of bodies and souls; all coming to meet with the Avasars that were soon to arrive. As the Imperial Bronze-Mythril hybrid compound continued to attach the daisy-shaped vessel to the station, the doors opened. It was just large enough to accommodate the Boundary's people.

Standing at the door, smiles on their faces, were Aurelians. The Elteni.

For those who had never met them before, they seemed like stock humans. Average as could be. And yet - every one of them seemed to carry a certain weight on them, something unmistakeable. Each had their presence; their mark on the world. Displayed or otherwise.

Most wore cloaks and hoods, grey and brown material looking rather pristine and new - threads still for there was no wind. All was calm as they waited for Songroot to glide down, eyes tracking his every moment whilst he did. Not with mistrust, or apprehension, but with a hint of wonder that something not magick could be so beautiful.

"Sunlight rises above the horizon," must be one of their greetings, Jonah thought.

The lead diplomat responsible for this first contact spoke back, using Intent-speak and crossing the language barrier. The voice was rough, a juxtaposition to Songroot's melody.

"And may the Emperor's blessing be with you."

With a smile, he continued.

"Now. You are here for a reason... to negotiate the construction of ships and the like, yes? Hybrids, of steel and verdant greens?"

Fox Millworks wrote:WHERE IS EVERYONE HIDING

0.34 OUTTA THE BOX

"Aye aye. Sur Junko speaks the truth. Just received a missive from the Consultants Guild to direct em' to the closest Aion-bound hub for secure artefact transit."

A crackle came over the thaumaturgic comms system, its intent being transmitted nigh instantly across light-years of space. The Grey Island had personally confirmed that yes, this was authorized - for the second time in Aurelia's recorded history - a non-Elteni was to be allowed directly into the Innerlands.

[--You are authorized for entry, Seventails of Feisen. Wait, and an escort will arrive shortly to bring you to our point of exchange.--]

Two minutes after that declaration, an Norinco-class Black Ops battleship jumped into the system, the bronze-black gilded vessel gilding amongst stellar currents.

[--Opening Cynosural Field in two minutes. Get your drones to the designated area, or there's no deal at all.--]

Though it didn't quite transmit, that sentence was slathered with derision.

The operator on the other side let out a grunt as the all-clear was sent to the Norinco-class, a series of blue-purple swirls echoing around it. A line of pulsing runes glowed an eerie red; the language of Everything spoke in odd tones, and only to those who knew how to listen.

It was with no fanfare that the entire entourage vanished into the abyss... reappearing in deep space, in the thick of the Aion. A cloying sort of sweetness and dizziness came over the crew of the B-ops battleship as the influence of gods long dead washed over the vessel; only for more wards to flash, these ones white and written entirely differently. A sigh of relief was heard from all over as the voices ceased their incessant whispers.

[=Welcome to Station Eye of Bermuda. Dock at your nearest convenience - our own objects for trade and the like have already been assembled. All we're waiting for is you, to hold up the end of this bargain.=]

The large torus-shaped station rotated on an axle of bronze as a clear mythril opening presented itself to her. The air inside was breathable, if only but.

Inside, a man awaited. Only one.

He wore a large white coat that extended from his shins up to his neck. Dull grey pants, flat black shoes and gold trimming accompanied him - but perhaps the most striking thing was the white, triangular wide-brim hat and the grey mask with blue goggled eyeholes that peered out at Sur. On his hand, he wore a single glove.

The other hand was tanned and laid bare, an eye made of six lines constantly shifting around.

His voice silky smooth, the Watchman talked.

"You have come here to trade. So have I. Let me see... what exactly you've come to give."

The Algeron Treaty Organization wrote:As the other teams made their ways throughout the locale, Data wasted no time in greeting KC. "My name is Data, I am an android. Your form appears related to the other androids here. Are you related?" he asked, though emotionally muted his speech shone a child like wonder he had not remembered since he was found on Omicron Theta.

When he heard his answer, he asked more questions, taking in each answer that KC-105 gave him to compare against his own experiences. "Is this an entire society of Synths? How many more kinds are there? And how do you create more? What are your origins as a species?"

Perhaps some of these questions weren't very socially appropriate... But Data was eager to ask anyway. His breadth of experience in Starfleet and the Federation could not have prepared him for a world like this. Prior to the Galactic Outreach Initiative there was scholarly doubt there was or could be more like his kind in the galaxy. At least, within reach of a few hundred years. He had lived his life up to this point without siblings, knowledge of his creator, or any hope of meeting or making more of his kind: his own technology escaped his ability to understand.

KC-105 projected a few more reptilians, though they stayed stationary as she explained.

"Synths were created by a species called Saurians, the original inhabitants of this world. Approximately three hundred and seventy one years ago, Saurians became extinct following a decades long battle against a viral plague. Synths as a species were created thirty years before Saurian Extinction, originally for the purpose of space exploration, but later on we were needed in order to replace large losses in organic population."

KC's voice waivered when she spoke about the plague and the extinction of the Saurians, reciting the extinction of her creators seeming to discomfort her as the Saurian holograms were dispersed, and a diagram of a large building took their place.

"Following Saurian extinction, Synths formed a democratic council and laid plans for maintaining as much infrastructure as possible, and constructing additional facilities to enable the proliferation of a mechanical species. In the centuries afterwards, we were able to achieve a stable population at approximately fifteen percent the size of the pre-plague Saurian population, give or take one percent due to margin of error."

The Breen wrote:

The strange entity tilted its head as if confused by the captain's response. Clicks and whirs could be heard behind its visage, as if a mechanical engine was driving the alien's movements.

{{"Improper Classification" Possible translation error. Query; Does your state-polity lack a designation?}}

The pillar asked again, as if genuinely curious.

{{My designation is BLOA-0992, caretaker and subroutine manager of the ship ⌿⍀⍜⎐⟟⎅⏃⋏☊⟒. Though you are mistaken, I am not a lifeform}}

Despite the machine's assertion, the oily appearance of its 'skin' and bulging along what could only be described as a torso betrayed something more organic than machine beneath what the researcher could see. A small appendage at its side hung limply, like a vestigial limb, though its true purpose was unknown.

The Captain considered the information, deciding to respond to the...being's first query. "Though it may seem odd, no, we do have a name, and that name is Improper Classifications." He chuckled. "I don't understand it either, but according to our Constitution, it's based on some old text."

The Captain then got an idea. "But this is all beside the point. I'd like to make a deal with you folks." He gestured to a small data-storing device he was holding, and then at the wider ship ⌿⍀⍜⎐⟟⎅⏃⋏☊⟒. "It looks to me as if you aren't exactly in tip-top shape. I think we could help with that. You've got a busted power transfer system and widespread communications failure, and we happen to carry plenty of extras of components for those systems. In return" - he gestured to the data device again - "when y'all are on your way, mayhaps you can tell the rest of this cloudforsaken galaxy who we are. There's plenty of information on this drive to give 'em."

He looked upwards at the pillar. "How's about it?"

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