Oh Look, New People!

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

In the normally serene space outside of the gravity well of the massive planet of Arcanis VIII a portal opened up. It was miniscule in comparison to the vast amounts of empty space in the system, but then, so was everything else. The tiny wormhole was but a few miles across and an odd purple energy emanated in waves, spreading out into the system.

Then, rather suddenly, a ship the size of a continent, sleek and smooth in its design and painted matte black with the light blue detailing of a dragon's maw covering the bow appeared out of this rift in space. On its side in white painted letters read (in Zarethian script) Honour Bound. The ship cleared the portal, its four large engines blasting away. Behind it were two nearly identical ships, the Revenge is Sweet and Cruel Wisp.

This was in fact, a simple scouting patrol. The Zarethians were an age old space faring people and were always on the lookout for new opportunities - trade wise or colonization wise. On board the bridge of the Zarethian Naval Ship Honour Bound the captain, a small, pale man sat at his command terminal, surveying the multitudes of data scrolling through the massive ship's sensory systems.
A planet, Captain Vol mused, large, many moons. Likely very rich in mineral resouce- His trail of thought was cut short as the data involving space traffic and long range images of floating cities appeared on his lefthand monitor. He heard the gibberish of an unknown alien tongue murmur through his ear-piece as they intercepted radio waves.
It was an inhabited planet. Perfect. Vol smiled with pleasure. It wasn't everyday you discovered a possible ally of the Zarethian people.

The trio of ships passed close to the planet, staying at the far reaches of the gravity well and far away from the multitudes of moons.
A transmission was put together, if it was opened on screen it would show Captain Vol in his black and blue Zarethian Naval dress uniform, smiling at the camera.
"Greetings from the Zarethian Empire. My name is Captain Ernad Vol, I am, as of this moment, the Zarethian Emmisary to your people. We are an extragalactic empire who sincerely wish for the betterment of all parties involved. We have had no knowledge of your existance up until this point but we are immensely curious. We come in peace."

Vol sat back in his seat and awaited a response.

[The Blade]

As the portal opened up in the space near Arcanis VIII, the alarms on every single Vionix city went off with an urgent sound and the people of the floating cities rushed to their designated as all around the planet massive platforms rose up from the depths of the oceans, these platforms had massive cannons on them, a single uprising gun with a large amount of Rapture cannons to back them up. About 500 of these platforms rose up from the black waters and all of them locked their weapons onto the ships that were in orbit around the planet.

The leader of Arcanis VIII was abruptly awoken from his sleep as he was told about these new arrivals and he quickly got changed and went to his office as the transmission came through and he straightened himself up and looked in the mirror, looking fine for just being awoken less than 5 minutes ago and he activated the comms link to these ships. He listened intently and then cleared his throat lightly. He looked an imposing man, standing around 7 foot and 9 inches tall, slightly tall for a Vionix male but not the tallest and he had a pressed suit on of black with a white shirt and dark blue tie as he faced the Zarethian. "Greetings Captain, I am Colonel Grius of the Vionix Empire, it is a pleasure to meet you." He smiled at the other person and then leaned on the desk, hitting a distress button that sent a shortband broadcast to Arcanis III and the Vionix fleet that was there. This message was in encrypted and ancient Vionix script, something which very few people learned except those who became admiralty, politicians or leaders and as such it made a perfect distress code. "I apologise for the defensive precautions Captain but I'm sure you can understand." He chuckled lightly, hoping they weren't hostile at all even through their promises of peace.

In orbit around Arcanis III the 3rd Vionix combat fleet was there, they hadn't moved out on a new objective since the arrival of DAIS and another race, the Narrikians so they were there in defense and it seemed that a third race had shown up. Miamore was woken up quickly and scrambled to get the fleet ready. She understood the message even if only the nature, she had never invested much time into Ancient Vionix but she understood it was an emergency and went powering to Arcanis VIII, the two super capitals and 2 carriers falling in behind Shimmering Dawn in an arrowhead formation with a small amount of frigates to back them up but they wouldn't be there for a while.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Vol barely noticed the flurry of activity raging on the scanner screens. Behind him the vox chatter about incoming vessels, their positions and outgoing radio transmissions were all cleanly blocked from the comm where he was speaking. He studied the man briefly, tall, humanoid and dressed in some sort of black suit not unlike an old trend of Zarethian clothing before the Lorcar attacks. Interesting, another humanoid race. He mused to himself, still smiling pleasantly.
"I understand, of course. Necessary measures just in case our call for peace was hardly truthful. A wise decision, for the galaxy is full of peoples and empires looking out for their own goals. However, the Zarethian Empire has not become as powerful as it is by picking fights where there is a chance for peace."
As the Vionix ships moved into position, the Zarethian ships did not respond and remained stationary, shields off, weapons powered down and AI ready to activate them upon any indication of hostilities.

[The Blade]

Shimmering Dawn and company realised the shut down weapons and shielding of these other vessels and stopped, dead in space, looking straight at the Zarethian fleet. Miamore called out to the helsmen to shut down weapons but leave the shielding on and she allowed the Colonel to deal with this new race, she sat back in the command chair and smiled, waiting to see what happened with this newest space faring race.

Colonel Grius on the surface of Arcanis VIII and looked to the hologram of the Captain. "I apologise once more Captain for the summons of the fleet, we are a rather cautious race and as such we take no chances with a new race, we have had three in the previous few days so we are on rather high alert at the moment." He smiled amiably to the Zarethian captain and took a glass over to fountain, filling it with water before returning. "Captain, perhaps this conversation would be better done on the surface, well city but you understand what I mean." He chuckled lightly. "Although I can understand if you take precautions for coming to the surface so take whatever soldiers or weapons you wish but I do assure you we are peaceful." He smiled once more and took a drink of water. "I will give you the co-ordinates for Niostox, this city, and will prepare a welcome wagon for you on landing pad Sigma. I hope to see you here Captain." He nodded to the Zarethian and switched off the comms, sending his people to ready landing pad Sigma and to break out the best bottle of alcohol before finishing his water and going to get into a slightly better suit than this one.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Captain Vol nodded, and before he could respond to the invitation, the transmission was cut. He frowned slightly. "Not as if I have any choice, it seems." His mind was churning with what the man had said. Three space faring races in the previous few days? The odds of such were astronomically small at best. He wondered who these new races were, hopefully they would be friendly, or even better, unknown. His heart skipped a beat at the prospect of finding three new races to ally with, all within the span of a week! He'd be famous, to be sure.
He shook himself mentally. "Se'lin?" He asked, a pretty blue haired Zarethian woman, the equivalent rank of an Ensign. "Please make note of all space traffic into and out of the system. We may meet some more unexpected races."
She nodded, eyes alight at the prospect. "Yes, Captain." She said before turning back to her holographic displays.
Satisfied with the possibility of fame and new trading partners, Captain Vol pressed in a key pad in the elevator, hangar bay 97, starboard side. He leaned against the wall and hummed quietly, smoothing his already sharp military dress.
As the elevator light blipped on and the doors opened, Vol signalled to the waiting ZPAA armoured contingent there to board the prepped shuttle.
The pnuematic hiss of an opening shuttle door signalled that it was time and Vol strode confidently onto the comfort of his personal craft.


Soon the small, darting vessel made its way through the planetary atmosphere and down to the coordinates, landing with a heavy clanking sound as the magnetic clasps found the landing pad.
With another pneumetic hiss, the door opened and Vol stepped out smartly, looking around curiously at new planet.

[The Blade]

Miamore Cadenchi had realised what Colonel Grius was doing and then turned to the comms officer. "Tell the rest of the fleet to back off, I will stay here with Shimmering Dawn and watch over the planet and ships." She said softly and with a smile, she had always enjoyed meeting new races, even if she had to destroy them, thankfully it didn't seem like she even had to contemplate trying to bring down these "Zarethians". She smiled at the thought and then reclined in the command chair, content to watch exactly what was going to happen with this newest race.

Colonel Grius had quickly went and gotten changed into the formal regalia of both his ex-military company and planet. He strode to landing bay Sigma in a light blue shirt with darker blue elbow pads and shoulder epaulettes, each epaulette showing the Vionix rank markings for Colonel. His trousers were the same light blue as his shirt and were pressed to a magnificent crease down the centre. He wore a bar across the right side of his chest that showed all his medals and military merits, he had at least fourteen medals planted there and under that were small fabric patches that showed his campaigns, he appeared to have participated in at least fifty different campaigns which would make one wonder just how old the Colonel was.

He stepped up to landing bay Sigma just before the shuttle landed, this was one of the landing bays that was designed to awe newcomers, it jutted out from the side of the city on a long arm. The platform itself sat over a two hundred foot drop into the deep, black waters below, Arcanis was rising softly on the horizon when the Zarethian Captain arrived and it caused the black waves and water to sparkle and glimmer as he stood there, back framed by the massive Vionix city with its flowing, curving architecture that seemed to be built specifically to lock with the other buildings around them to create as much space as possible. The Colonel himself was an imposing figure, the lines of his biomechanics were easily visible over his neck and hands as he stood with a contingent of five Vionix soldiers behind him, their visors down and their distortion carbines cinched tightly to their chests. When Grius saw the shuttle land he walked forwards to greet the Captain, his hand out stretched for a friendly handshake, if the handshake was accepted it would be completely apparent just how strong the Colonel was, the muscle in his arms put together with his biomechanics meant that he might have been able to crush Vol's head in his hand but he was smiling so that wouldn't happen. "Greetings Captain. Welcome to the Prime City of Arcanis VIII, this is the wonderful city of Niostox"

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Captain Vol stepped out of the shuttle and onto the metal of the docking bay. The area was quite spectacular, he noticed, even for a man of his experience it was serenly beautiful. He turned his attention to the man who spoke, noticing the augmented sections of his body with a slight crease of his eyebrows before he turned his face into a smiling mask of diplomacy. He bowed. "I am Captain Vol, it is a wonderful privilege to arrive on this beautiful world with the mission of peace and prosperity." He discreetly motioned for all but two of his armoured bodyguards to retreat back onto the shuttle.

[The Blade]

Colonel Grius smiled pleasantly to the Zarethian before he swept his hand around and bowed back to him, rising up quickly with his own diplomatic smile easily spread out across his lips. "I thank you Captain, this is the wonderful city of Niostox, the first and largest city upon Arcanis VIII. I already have rooms for you and your men should you be staying for any longer than a day, I do hope that we can come to a nice negotiation with one another and further both of our Empires" He nodded and then turned to his soldiers, ordering them up into a vanguard to lead the diplomatic group further into the city and to the palace "Come now Captain, I eagerly await hearing about your race and Empire" He smiled broadly and then started walking, four of the Vionix leading the way whilst the fifth stood at the rear of the group, ready to respond to any possible threats.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

The captain smiled and bowed from the waist and followed the troop of guards. "As am I about yours," He chuckled as his men took up the rear. "I am unaware of how long I shall be here, but your thoughtfulness speaks highly for your people."

As they walk through the building, Captain Vol discusses the basics of the Zarethian history. They used to be a intergalactic empire, holding hundreds of worlds within their grasp and bringing a golden age. Then, he spoke of the Fall, where the Great Devourer swept across their empire like a plague and engulfed all but the small amount of survivors that escaped and that they wandered the stars for more then three centuries only to just recently have found peace and prosperity eight years ago.

[The Blade]

Grius nodded as he walked, listening intently into the story of the Zarethians and even cringing and nodding in all the right areas, his smile becoming somewhat smaller but he was in deep thought about it, to any other Vionix nearby, this was obvious because of the change in colour of his biomechanics from invisible to a deep blue, showing the long lines all across his hands and neck. "That is certainly an... interesting story Captain" He nodded a few times and took a deep breath.

The Colonel then explained everything he knew about Vionix history, how they had advanced very quickly but had only very recently discovered space travel, their crowning glory being the massive Titan just shy of the planet and watching them. "To be honest Captain, we thought we would be extremely behind in the technology department considering how recently we achieved space flight but it was not the case it would seem. Maybe myself or our finest Admiral, Miamore, could give you a tour of one of our ships?" He raised an eyebrow and shrugged slightly "I'm happy just to be able to meet a race that does not wish to harm us and instead wants to go for diplomacy and reason over conflict" They were drawing steadily closer to a large, white marble building in the center of the city. The "Town Hall" so to speak of Niostox.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

The Zarethian captain admired the alien architecture as they walked, nodding along. "That seems to be the general reaction to our peaceful negotiations. Most other cultures seem to think that we'd be small green men intent on violating them in order to reproduce. I assure you, that only happens some of the time." He turned and smiled to show that he was joking. "I believe that would be wonderful idea, and perhaps I would be able to show you the same honour abourd our meagre vessel."

[The Blade]

Grius barked out a small laugh at the joke and shook his head "Trust me, I've had the same problem before" He then nodded towards the large building and walked up the stairs to a modest sized set of silver doors which swung open without a single sound and he waved to the side, the four Vionix soldiers on vanguard stepping two to either side, flanking the approach into the door. "Welcome to the Hall of the Guardians, the home of the commanders and diplomats of the Vionix on this planet" He walked inside, beckoning Vol to follow him. "If you wish, I could have a guard escort you and your men to a room if you would so wish or you could wander around the city, the people here are friendly enough. You might even get a free meal at a cafe for being of a different race, the Vionix love to meet others, trust me!" He smiled and waited for a reply, just standing in the main room of the large building. Massive silver statues standing vigil at either side of the pathway, these were statues of the greatest Generals and Scientists in Vionix history.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Captain Vol smiled at the warm welcome. Normally, other races tended to view them with suspician and distrust, and he supposed he couldn't exactly blame them. A random ship appears out of nowhere and suddenly starts broadcasting landing code verifications and diplomatic greetings? If he was in charge he'd probably be pretty paranoid too.
He shook himself out of his little mental reverie and nodded. "As long as we can arrange a diplomatic meeting in short, then I'm sure my men would enjoy a little bit of exotic food and drink." He smilled.