The Oswaft, great flying masses that glided the blackness of space without aid of vessel or technology. Quite arguably the most intelligent of all natural space bourne entities, this species was reported to communicate in a manner which could baffle most common computer systems, even surpass them in loads of information carried. Of the few space-based races that considered Imperium space home, from the growing number of Miner's horror to the lesser seen Scree that plagued the Vergesso Belt, these were certainly the most likely to garner Imperium attention. So it was of little surprise when, after some political upheaval in the Centralities leadership, a task force was sent out to ThonBoka on an exploratory and diplomatic rendezvous.
Dispatched to Thonboka were the Akorec cruisers
Nebula and
Mist, serving as escorts and diplomatic envoy for the Centrality as well as forming a defense escort for a singular Fractal Assembler Swarm of Dameun origin. In contrast to their simple, singular design and roughly aerodynamic forms the Fractal Assembler Swarm was an ugly blip against the backdrop of space itself. While the Centrality ships were smooth and shimmered in the light of the countless stars that proudly shown their light upon them, the Dameun ship was dark and jaded. Nearly ever solid edge of it a broken edge forming a mountain of broken metal hurled through space. Yet it was magnificent to behold in all its wonder.
"Why has the Church sent an envoy to a simple diplomatic mission?" the comm officer spoke idly over his connection to the
Mist's own comm officer. The Centrality had much more lax security when it came to military protocol and it seem borne out of good reason. In more recent times political upheaval seemed the order of the day, so generally for newer political offices it seemed that a happier military order would be a more obedient military order. This typically lead to a military of civilians, but as the Centrality as it name so suggested was so aptly placed out of danger it was an accepted practice by the Imperium. At least for the time being...
"Well, why wouldn't they? After all, new life and new professors of the faith and all that good stuff..." It made for a fairly weak argument, but she wasn't really making any strong points. Layla was bored and this other comms officer wasn't particularly all that entertaining either. The Church could do whatever it wanted to do, she didn't really care. Soon as this was done she would disembark to one of the more luxurious Centrality worlds and really unwind. Maybe something tropical.
"It just seems odd is all. These creature's are not even humanoid, do they even have a sense of life after this? All I'm saying is who knows what space borne life thinks about." It was true, these things lived well beyond the normal life cycles of non-enhanced human beings and bore none of the traditional objects that proceeded any historical religious icons. What would you think of a sun when you could fly close enough to one to get burned? Surely man didn't consider the fire God, so why would these... No, there had been elemental cults borne from the strength of fire and wind and earth... there really was no way to tell.
"You know, you really should not be trying to dictate what the Church can do, I hear they don't take kindly to that..." with that she cut the open connection, switching back to standby mode with a distinct smirk crossing her face. She could only imagine the little twit on the other ship shatting his pants at the thought of Church reprisal about a conversation held on an open communications frequency. Not that their was any big history of Church crackdowns on miscellaneous communications chatter involving them there had been some stories, and enough of them seemed true enough to put people in their place when it came to fear of it.
Before the assembled entourage grew a swirling of dust, particulates spread around space as unevenly and indiscriminantly as life itself gathering to one location from some gravity disturbance. Slowly coming together, clumping and rotating in this small whirlpool in space, directly before the Dameun ship. Much like a whirlpool of its namesake the collecting fragments of interstellar dust began to curve in on space itself, their very paths seeming to lead them inwards on a spiral towards some ultimate goal, of which there was only darkness. The pull became stronger and the Centrality ships found themselves pulled into the growing vortex like nothing more than the debris floating in it thus far; and so too did the FAS, not immune to its own devices. Space returned to what it once had been before their presence, a few kilo's of matter less than before, but relatively unchanged.
Being slammed back against ones seat wasn't a particularly pleasant sensation and yet completely unavoidable in many space time situations. The Dameun Quantum Drive proved to cause one of those many situations as it hurled the assembled group of ships through a tear in reality, flinging them none to subtly towards their destination far faster than ever could have been achieved otherwise. She had heard tell of another method used by Dameun military forces exclusively but only recently seen in the Tion sector. Very easy flying they had said, In and out were the words she had heard behind an uncomically thin euphemism for sex. How she wished, behind gritted teeth and tousled hair, that she had gotten the full benefit of Dameun technology and not this bastardization they had decided to send.
A swirling vortex of bright white light broke the stark contrast of interstellar space, whilst at the same time forming a brilliant match up to the brilliance of the ThonBoka Nebula. Blooming like a supernova just next door, a magnificence of light and matter exploded into spontaneous existence. For as dark as space itself was this shown itself as its direct opposite, creating a funnel of light that shot forth from it like a cannon upon the darkness. From it spewed bits of particulate matter in a slight stream of highly accelerated particles. Following these came forth larger and larger chunks of what seemed like asteroid material but far too many flat sides to be natural. The universe of itself was devoid of right angels with circles being its natural form, making whatever came that way instantly artificial.
Shot out like bullets from a gun, these bits and pieces flew on towards the nebula. Were its inhabitants knowledgeable of the galaxy at large they might have feared, super weapons came in many shapes and sizes and this one in particular resembled something straight out of the Empires guidebook to planetary terrorism. Fortunately these giant gentle beasts would not have to endure such an attack and certainly not from the Empire once again. The chunks floated on towards the gases of the nebula, reflecting the colors and shades of the lights that hit them, turning them from their ugly dull blacks and browns into brilliant shades of yellow and green. Entering the sole entrance of the Star Cave, these pieces then began to dissolve into smaller and smaller segments, soon vanishing from the visual range and entering what then could only be described as the sensor range.
The blossom of light wavered for a moment as
Mist and
Nebula shot out of it, controlled by their gravity dampeners and ion drives not to be hurled just the same as the rest of the material proceeding them, just before closing up behind them. Slowing to approach velocity of the caverns entrance, silence filled the bridges of both ships. Most knew of ThonBoka's existence and had seen at least one holo of it in their lives, the sheer magnitude of the sight in person was breath taking to behold, to say the very least. One thing of note was instantly apparent, though maybe to those of quicker higher brain functions at first than others, was a lack of Oswaft at the sole entrance of the Nebula itself. Considering its history and the current galactic political climate, one would have suggested that there would be some sort of mounted defense, even from creatures such as these.
"Readings on the Nebula?" Sir Johhnas Richsley, Captain of
Mist inquired almost immediately. Quite prepared for some stupid joke about their sister ship, always an expectation for the worst he recalled.
"All appears normal, as we know it, sir..." The science officer began before checking his station once more before speaking up. "Uhm, sir, the Dameun vessel appears to be missing..."
Turning from his main screen to face the science officer, he gave him a tired and quite nearly humorless look. The sagging likes of age had taken their toll on his face, but for a man trying to look serious it did no end of good that his dimples were the singular marking which stood out on him. Pushing a few buttons on his command chair he rotated outside view towards the position they had emerged from Quantum Drive. Surely enough
Nebula passed by the view, where the Dameun FAS had been previously between them there was now nothing at all, no sign of the Church's vessel.
"Did it not join us through the vortex?" He inquired curiously, slightly miffed at the idea their support would be shown and taken away so quickly.
"Yes sir. It passed through just moments after we did sir, no readings on what happened after though... Incoming transmission from the Nebula, voice only."
The masculine voice of a somewhat worried communications officer filled the bridge with a few moments of breathing before taking action. "Our Captain thought you should hear this as well sir, a transmission straight from ThonBoka itself, seems they know were here sir..." Without warning the bridge filled with an incredibly loud and almost violent wailing noise intermixed with what could have been static. Lasting nearly thirty seconds before being cut off the comm officer of the
Nebula cut in again as
Mist's bridge crew tried to regain their sense of hearing. "My appologies sir, thats what we received, but it seems that its a direct computer to computer transmission... yes, nearly blew my eardrums out too when I heard it.." He seemed to say to no one in particular, certainly no one aboard the
Mist, "...transmitting decoded message to your main screen now."
The main screen instantly changed from the view of darkened space just behind them to a view from inside ThonBoka. The hulking form of an Oswaft of indeterminable size filled a greater portion of the screen, surrounded by the moving masses of the nebula itself with a backdrop of three solar masses. More curious than all of this was what appeared to be the form of a massive Daemun Priest standing to equivalent scale to the Oswaft in the picture. The two floating in space, side by side as if they were standing on some ocean floor, a diver and some sort of ray examining a similar object.
Leaning over her station, Layla whispered lowly so as to not interrupt the captains concentration as he watched the message begin. "I believe he's merely a super imposed image on the transmission captain, not actually there." He seemed to shrug her off or at the very least not acknowledge what she had told him. Frowning slightly, thinking this to be of some importance, she flopped back down into her seat and watched with the same interest as everyone else.
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"...while we did not appreciate the seeding of our food source by your machines, we find this new form of communication most... helpful. This intelligence net is much easier on the sense's than previous attempts of communications with ship dwellers. Having communicated with the one known as Aquilis on behalf of your people we have accepted peaceful co-existence with the Imperium. We are allowing the placement of one of your artificial structures at the exit of our home in hopes of further contact..."
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Whispering lightly into her comm desk, low enough not to be heard by the rest of the bridge crew but so that the officer aboard the other ship could still hear, she activated her microphone once again. She could hear his breathing, always annoying but for now she was too concerned with this development to be bothered by such a small occurrence.
"Is this okay? Did we seed something? You think the Dameun's might have done something to them... I mean, where did they go?"
"You know, you really should not be trying to dictate what the Church can do, I hear they don't take kindly to that..." he qouted, mildly irritated and cut the connection. Placing his arms behind his head, slightly cradling himself as he leaned back to watch the main screen, he smiled self satisfactorily. Easiest mission yet, he thought, can't wait to get home or maybe a vacation... maybe a tropical world...
