Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 15:00:37 GMT
While Shu had time to scout out the Zakar Frontier, his supplies where beginning to run low, and heavily encrypted channels from Decoroso advised him to stay out there as a Quick Reaction Force in case the Dectrose where needed again in the region. But he could only feed the men for so long, and he needed to make contact with a faction out here. He brought up his map, as he did several times over the course of his exploration, and headed back to the area around Thramas, pinging his signal several times, hoping to gain the attention of anyone in the vicinity.
He still used the same transmission and IFF as he had during the Battle of Thramas, so those participants would easily have noticed and identified it. He sat there, tapping his long claws on the arm of his chair, the tips of his claws beginning to chip from not being groomed for some time, but where more than deadly enough to fight. Looking over to Marine Officer Harris, he lifted his chin, as if expecting an answer, to which Harris shook his head. So they continued to wait.
The GAE were still cautious of the Thramas system, it was after all a system on their borders that an event had occurred bordering war with a still unknown enemy. They kept a fleet ready to jump into Thramas should anything were to harm the destroyer they put into the system for long term observation. Erika Brunhildr had just recently relieved one ship of their three months in the system, they had only been here for about two weeks or so with their life support running silently and everything else powered down. The experimental AI unit on board that piloted the ship, kept the crew down to a minimum, around 100 men.
The AIN Maass had been sitting and watching the new arrival in the debris field of still non removed GAE ships, painted to look as if it had been destroyed like the ships around her. Erika ordered her crew to stations as they restarted the reactor and began moving out of the debris field, sending out the signal used by the AIN Erika II, the second ultimate fast battleship involved during the Thramas incident.
The Comms Officer, slightly fidgety, worked over the comms and the IFFs now coming to light. Shu had to replace the old Communication Officer after the Unnamed hacking, and thus he had chosen Balack. Though he had a terrible fidgeting problem, his skills in tasking several incoming communications earned him the right to be on the bridge crew. He shakingly spoke up "Admiral Shu, I have signals coming up identifying as the 'AIN Erika II', they belong to the Grand Araxium Empire, how shall I proceed?"
Shu slowly lifted his claws to his chin, scratching his gruff fur there "Send out a hail, let them know we're in need of supplies, and that we wish to seek harbor in friendly territory." Balack nodded, before getting back to the Comms "GAE Vessel, this is the Dectrothian Corsair Vessel 'Tranquil Fiend', both I and our fleet are in need of repairs, resupply and safe harbor. If you are in need of further diplomatic questionings, I can transfer you to Corsair Admiral Shen Shu."
Shu himself looked out towards the system, the debris, the carnage and more than one of the pieces identifying as a piece of the several Dectrose ships damaged here. Though he made sure the salvagers did the best they could, he knew that their efforts couldn't scrub out all of the pieces. Though it was almost hard to see how this system could regain any semblance of peace after the events that happened here.
Erika's comms officer relayed what he heard to her, she sent back an immediate reply. "Tell them to follow us back to Erlun, send them the coordinates as well along with the clearance codes to access the docks." Then turning to the other comms officer. "Alert Admiral Viktoriya, we're going back with a friendly fleet and ending our recon early."
With that, the GAE ship prepped its drive and jumped out of system. The coordinates she gave would lead them back to their major docks on Erlun, capital of the Araxium Empire.
The Corsair fleet prepped it's Warp Drives, whining softly as it took an extra moment, before departing the system, following the coordinates to Erlun. The twelve ships soon burst into the system, purple flashes and a donut-shaped ring coming from the engines of each ship, signaled that they had arrived to those in the system. They took little time in finding and slowly moving to the docks, reaching out to contact any traffic controllers in the area to help guide the warships into their specified docking patterns, if they had such a system.
Greeting the Dectrose fleet was the Royal Defense Fleet, eight ultimate fast battleships and multiple smaller ships conducting patrol and exercises around the system. Leading the defense fleet Admiral Viktoriya hailed the visiting fleet from her flagship, the AIN Kaiser.
"Welcome to Erlun, capital of the Araxium Empire, the ground facilities have been prepared to repair and resupply your ships. Additional facilities have also been prepared for your temporary stay here. Follow ground control to the docks."
Just as she had finished her transmission, ground control immediately pitched in and began guiding the Dectrose fleet to the ground.
Shu tapped his claw on the comms "The pleasure is ours m'lady, I thank you on behalf of my fleet, and our captains." Setting in the course provided, the helmsman guided the 'Tranquil Fiend' down towards the planet, the fleets dispersing slightly as they each where directed to docking pads on the planet. Once there, Shu opened a canister of nanites, the machines scrubbing his body and effectively cleaning him and his suit up to be nice and tidy. The idea came from Gavin, and he smirked as he thought of that boy, wondering what trouble he's getting himself into.
Though as the nanites returned to the canister, Shu stepped off his chair and moved with purpose to the docking bay, where he could take a shuttle down and meet with anyone the GAE had waiting for him. This took little time, and the Hawkbat III lifted up, out and down to the ground.
MAR KAT 8x8 supply vehicles rolled about carrying supplies to the ships parked all over the docks. In the distance, the AIN Maass touched down in a destroyer dock, depressed into the ground. Erika stepped off and into a staff car driving towards the person who looked to be in charge. She got off and saluted.
"Welcome to Erlun, I have already contacted the empress and she is requesting to meet you in person. If we take a drive now we should be able to pick her up at the Academy."
Giving a bow, Shu spoke in his gruff, deep-sounding voice "It'd be my honor, though if I may bring my Marine Officer with me as a personal guard, I would greatly appreciate it." He took a few moments to lift from his bow, and then entered the vehicle. Marine Officer Harris waited for the response, and if they had accepted, he joined Shu, but if not, he would tend to the ship. Either way, Shu was looking forward to letting his crew get some rest.
"I have no problems with that. Let's go." Erika got back in and drove out of the docks, their escort of two armored cars joined them as they left. The weather was good, though it was summer it wasn't too hot and it was already evening.
When they had reached the Academy, classes there had already ended and Arabel bounced down the stairs and towards the waiting car. She was wearing a typical school uniform with a short skirt, her bushy tail poking out from underneath and her two wolf ears standing up on her head and her hair tied back into a long ponytail. To most people she looked to be just 16 years old, but she was only over 200 years old, with wars getting in the way of her studies. Getting into the vehicle, she greeted the two men inside.
"Welcome to Erlun, I am Kaiserin Arabel von Raxia. I think we've met before when we were investigating the Thramas system?"
For once, Shu had a break from the usual hot temperature on the Dectrose ships, those Dectrothians loved to turn up the heat, and though he knew Harris had his thermal undersuit on to keep him warm, Shu had no complaints. Though as they pulled up to the Academy, Harris and Shu both stared at the wolf-like girl hopping and happily bouncing towards the car, as Harris had to slap Shu's shoulder when he pressed in for a closer look, putting the Admiral back in his seat, as Raxia joined them.
"Corsair Admiral Shen Shu, this here is Marine Officer Harris, I recall that Thramas was quite a mess, but I'm glad you've made it out of it intact." He flashed a toothy smile, this Foo Dog styled teeth showing off his impressive fangs, as he continued "After Thramas, my fleet had left to scout the Zakar Frontier, but much to their boredom, we had found nothing as of yet. We fully plan on heading back out that way, but I think my crews need sme time to rest." He tilted his large head "And what of you and the Araxium Empire after Thramas?"
With Arabel in the car, Erika began driving again, this time towards the imperial palace. On the way passing by the eastern docks again before turning onto the main stretch of road that led to the south entrance to the palace. Vehicles of all sorts were parked along the side the main road, automobiles, motorcycles, armored cars and tanks, their crews relaxing inside pubs.
"Our progress has been less than eventful, thank you for asking. The Erika II is still in repair and we have been slowly building up a fleet of new ships." She said, pointing out to the docks, the superstructure of the AIN Erika II was barely visible past all the parked warships and flak towers beside and around the ship. "The news of the incident has already been made public, after all, we can't hide the disappearance of a few warships crewed by the men and women of the families living here. The civilian population is handling the incident surprisingly well."
Erika halted the car outside the palace entrance, the armored car escort broke off towards the nearby military garage. The sun was already going down when they reached the palace.
"We'll talk more inside. Erika will take you to one of the meeting rooms, I'll be joining you later." Arabel said as she got out of the car first, rushing up the stairs with her bag and disappearing into the building.
Shu watched Arabel depart, silent for a moment before turning back to Erika "If it means anything, I'm truly sorry for your losses, and I hope repairs are done swiftly. Though it is reassuring that the populace hasn't caused any disturbance following the incident." Harris tapped into the Dectrothian Network, and continued to be silent, his eyes staring at a blank part of the vehicle. Shu himself looked out of the vehicle, seeing these military forces relaxed and without much worry.
Though before long he followed Erika out of the car, allowing her to lead the way, as Harris just kept quiet, as Shu tried to lighten the mood. "I must say, your architecture is quite pleasing to the eye, though of course, I don't remember much of Dectrothian architecture before I was a Corsair. And speaking of the Corsairs," he turned to Harris "Contact Alqursan Command and see what new orders are coming from them, as well as a request to utilize the Dectrose Empire's Official Diplomatic Channel."
"Thank you for your concern. Unfortunately our people have gone through enough wars to understand that we cannot escape for long periods without violence." Erika led them towards a busier part of the massive lobby, businessmen, workers and soldiers walked about in a hurry. People entered and left through the entrances or through the under level subways that connected to the whole city.
"The architecture hasn't changed much from when we last left our own galaxy. What we see here is just an improved structure of the other imperial palace in our home galaxy."
Tall archways, massive structure, one would be able to describe the imperial palace as an oversized church repurposed to accommodate the imperial family and the military. It was therefore the largest structure in the whole city, and was also at the center. Much of the lower floors were made up primarily of offices and military facilities while the upper floors from level thirty onwards was where the actual palace began. Erika led Shu and Harris into an elevator that shot up through the building, past all the lower floors and straight to the command floor 128 levels above the ground. The view was spectacular and stretched far beyond the city, one could easily view the beautiful mountain ranges to the north, the great plains to the west, an ancient forest to the south and the sea to the east.
The room Erika had prepared for the Dectrose overlooked the sea with the massive reinforced glass window. Below, the large shadow of the massive palace dwarfed the whole city in the sunset and a moon rose upwards illuminating the sea. From the room the docks were also clearly visible, the whole place being lit up in bright white flood lights shining from flak towers. "Please, have a seat. Arabel should be joining us shortly. From this floor we can easily access the military archives a level below us, the history archives a floor below that. Should you chose to stay here for the night, we can have rooms above prepared for you as well."
Setting his things down, Shu and Harris took the comfortable seats and relaxed for a moment, enjoying the view and taking in all of what they seen and heard thus far, before Shu spoke up after stretching his arms "I believe my crew deserve some good R&R, we've been scouting out the Zakar Frontier for some time, but sadly we have come across nothing in our travels. Though if the information from Alqursan Command is correct, then I'm going to be heading right back out there without touching back at base. Decoroso Command seems to think there is something out here from the information they've dissected, it just means my men are generally bored and restless."
Harris tapped the RAVD node a few times before placing it in reach of both of the Corsairs "I agree Admiral Shu, and I think I can open up the treasury to allow some amount of shore leave, so they can get their rowdiness out in a controlled and safe environment. Alqursan also has thankfully updated our accounts so if you want to make a purchase, you can, Shu." Giving a nod, Shu lifted his clawed hand "Let's just wait for Arabel before we get too far now, I don't want to overstay our welcome."
While waiting for Arabel to arrive, Erika sat down opposite the two men and began accessing and arranging several documents to be ready for when they did begin their discussions.
It took the wolf girl perhaps another fifteen minutes before she arrived wearing a small white dress and grey house slippers. The clock above the door read 1930 hours, quite early for Arabel to already be ready for sleep though Erika would guess that the younger girl would spend the rest of the night watching shows in bed.
Taking her seat beside Erika, she made a sort of semi-audiable crinkling sound of plastic as she relaxed in the seat.
Erika leaned in, "Well, before we begin. Is there anything you'd like to ask us?"
Shu shifted in his seat, Harris cocking his head in a confused manner at the sound from Arabel, before Shu placed his elbows on the table, then placed his jaw close to his resting paws "Well, we would like to stay here overnight to give the men some time to relax and have some shore leave, of course if you wish to give us the permission for that, and because we're currently operating within the Dectrose's diplomatic operations here, I would like to discuss the usual 'First Contact' mission objectives."
Shaking his head a little, as if to re-focus, Harris tapped the RAVD node again, bringing up the documents that came with a First Contact. Several agreements, trade and diplomatic appeared, along with an invitation that Shu authorized, but held back as the RAVD node shifted the document towards Erika and Arabel, not fully sure who is going to sign. "As usual, Dectrose sends over a Non-Aggression Pact, as well as a Trade Agreement. You may choose to sign them or not, but we do give our recently updated maps and the history of our empire as a gesture of good faith."
The Foo Dog leaned back now, stroking his long scruff under his chin in an almost contemplating fashion, waving his claws at the node as more information appeared in from of him on the table.
"You'll be allowed to stay for as long as you'd like. I'll have the military prepare some quarters for your men. The rooms just above this floor will also be prepared for you if you'd like to stay here." Erika picked up the document and passed it to Arabel for her to sign. More crinkling noises this time as Arabel crossed her legs and sat upright to sign the documents.
Meanwhile, she brought up a massive holographic projection of the areas thus far explored by GAE fleets in Ancerious. Clearly marked out were the locations of other factions that had made contact with the Araxium Empire; the Divine Davia Empire and the IRS. Along with a few grey shaded areas showing the locations of the other factions that were associated with the two previously mentioned factions if any had been mentioned or been allowed to know about during and after their first contacts.
"Well, since you are here, I guess we can show you a little bit of our empire. The Araxium Empire of the Raxian Galaxy." Erika accessed her side of the table, bringing up a map of the Raxia galaxy, along with the positions of the Araxium Empire and the allied territories. The areas taken by the galactic plague were also shown.
"As you can see here, we have been able to unify about a quarter of our home galaxy. The nearby factions surrounding us are allied and we're relatively peaceful with one another. But the problem is this." She said, pointing to the area controlled by the galactic plague. "A kind of hive mind species created by a civilization long since forgotten, they consume everything in their path. Which is also the reason why the empire is here in Ancerious."
Harris gave a sigh of relief, updating the crews in the Corsair fleet and allowing them out into some well-deserved shore leave, as Shu paused the stroking of his chin fur and perked his ears at Arabel as more sounds came from her, and then resumed. "Thank you so very much, I assure you these men can get rowdy at times, but they know the limits, if you could send your local laws towards my Marine Officer here, we can let that subject rest, and I thank you for agreeing to the Trade and Non-Aggression Pact, no doubt Trudchen will contact you on the finer details of such later."
He leaned forward, placing both his paws on the table now as he focused on the map, noting IRS and tapping his claws on the table, before allowing his thoughts to be stored away in his processor for later, as the topic then shifted towards the Araxium's home galaxy, and noting the 'Galactic Plague's positions on that map. "Yes, several nations in Ancerious seem to have such problems in their origin galaxies, it seems a common occurrence. We ourselves are involved in skirmishes and wars with a 'Meralis Republic' back in the Horizon and Nova galaxies, but the Dectrose are far from saying we even control a small majority of our own galaxy."
"That plague wasn't there before. At least not until we wandered into the center of our universe, it spread from the opposite side, an area that still remains unexplored." Erika explained. "Seemed like whatever civilization was at the center of the galaxy before us wanted to take the rest of us to hell with them. Araxium history isn't that different from others, though I think we've suffered an average amount compared to others."
She handed Shu a relatively small book containing the history of the Araxium Empire, some 500 years worth of history. Much of it was what the well educated Araxian civilian would know. At the same time she handed a small sheet of paper outlining what was and wasn't illegal in the empire. Araxia is a mostly free country, people were allowed to do most things as long as it didn't disrupt their national unity.
"You can keep that book, we have quite a few kept in boxes somewhere around here. Mostly for when foreign diplomats come visiting for the first time. However, concerning our galaxy's plague. We may not be able to stop it, all it does is consume planets, leaving them completely inhospitable. People who come into contact of it either die a slow painful death or lose their minds and body to the plague, effectively becoming a pawn. Most of us here in the army high command fear that if we cannot succeed here then we will be completely destroyed."
Arabel had already noticed that at least one person was aware of the sounds she was making. She was and yet wasn't intentionally doing it, and if anyone was to blame she would jokingly place it on her dead father. A side effect of being a cross breed was her slightly feral nature, while it was mostly in the form of bloodlust and the need to occasionally bite someone or something. And when it wasn't mostly her need to kill it was her incontinence, something she could never avoid even if she wanted to, it was something that could have been solved by now with the tech they had but it was that she simply didn't want to. She had grown accustomed to it, and some people have associated her with it.
"For a moment there, you both seemed a little distracted. Is there anything you'd like to know?" A small smile spread across her face, whatever move she made, shifting her weight on the chair, crossing and uncrossing her legs, she made some noise.
Shu's expression turned grave, as Erika spoke about the plague, and took the book, which he placed in front of him, skimming the first few pages quickly with a claw, as Shu also took the paper with the local laws, and then gave it to Harris, who digitized it and sent it out to the crews. Though this plague had stirred up the very core beliefs of the Dectrose, and their strong determination to not see another race die. "You won't be destroyed, I promise you that. If you ever need a safe harbor, seek us out, we won't allow your race to die."
He sent over the invitation that he had in hand over to Erika, an invitation to join a defensive power bloc, the Free Defense Council, in it, it guaranteed that all member nations will join to prevent an invasion of one's borders, diplomatic and economic stability, future joint projects and guidelines on stemming illegal trade, piracy and other things that the FDC was against. "The Dectrose and Three Domain's Alliance are already members, and we have already begun to kindle strong bonds between us. I think, in light of your situation, that it might be a good idea to think about the FDC."
Though Arabel's voice cut through his thoughts, and while Harris just turned away to avoid any awkward response, Shu's expression shifted a little, as if he knew already, from his good hearing, but was polite enough to ask "Yes, actually, You seem to look a little.. young, and you seem to be making some noise when you move your body, can you tell me why you appear so young, and what the noise is?"
"Yes, I am quite young, the youngest empress of the Araxium Empire. And I'm also what we call a Zwitterding, or crossbreed. Normally the child of a human father and a Katzian mother will be a Katzian, while a katzian father and human mother will produce a human child. There was simply no way to create something like myself by natural methods. While my father was human and my mother is katzian, I was created as a sort of experiment to see if we could blend the best points of a human with the best points of a katzian. Humans of Araxia tended to be more strategically minded and lived longer, while katzians were known for their great ability to hunt prey. To explain simply, I was created as a test subject in a test tube." Arabel stood from her seat and slowly made her way to the other side of the table, Erika just watched her. With every step the girl took, she made noise, something Erika never noticed anymore after being accustomed to it.
"However, there was no such thing as perfect. While I can hunt prey easily with my katzian sense of smell and hearing, I live a shorter life, an estimated 100 years. Considering my position as one of the few zwitterding to ever survive, most people outside the military do not like us because we're different. But also because we have a probability to revert the katzian part of us to turn feral if we're not careful. My mother is a grey wolf, that will explain my ears, tail and hair color. But one of the great many side effects of being a zwitterding is that most zwitterding are incontinent. And in my case, I don't choose when I take a leak."
While Erika looked over the invitation Arabel sat beside Shu, pulling the bottom of her dress up high enough to show him what was making the crinkling noises. "I have more cuter designed diapers than the one I'm wearing now. But they all serve the same purpose. Of course, with our current tech we could solve this issue but the few of the zwitterding who are incontinent are near impossible to find. And as for me, I kind of like it. But to answer your question as to why I look so young, is that I was created as such, this body may only last me 100 years, but in all my reincarnations using the OHKA officer relay system, my outwardly age will always make me look like a 16 year old human girl."
Listening to the young-looking 'Zwitterding', the Foo Dog perked his ears at her, Harris was making himself busy with assigning crews on shifts to keep skeleton crews ont he ships, and rotating shore leaves so they can still be ready at a moment's notice. Shu himself wondered if these Katzians had any of the same genetic traits of what the Dectrose had labeled his own race, 'Alhayans'. Though he'd need access to such biology, it was all just speculation at this point unless he could get a hold of such information, but seeing as the invitation was pressing enough, he pushed it away for another day.
Though the revelation that Arabel was the product of a test tube was shocking, to say the least, and it would show on his expression, soon followed by worry, knowing that the problems Arabel has where caused by such, but the young-looking Zwitterding seemed okay and even preferred this lifestyle, and Shu respected that she had adapted to life and be as comfortable as possible.
He watched as she sat next to him, feeling an urge to hold her in the most primal instincts in his mind, and to comfort her, but she showed him in confidence her diaper, and Shu glanced down, then back into Arabel's eyes, it gave him a sort of pain, to see this happen, but he reminded himself that once again, she was comfortable and happy, and he felt glad of it "I see, you are a very strong individual, for having to live like you have, and to be accustomed to it, I can respect your ability to adapt, and I can say that you will do great things in your future, I have a feeling you'll be just fine Arabel."
He smiled, and patted her shoulder with his paw as a show of reassurance.
Erika cleared her throat, grabbing Arabel's attention for a moment. "The Araxium Empire will accept your invitation to the FDC. I suppose that aside from proving each other with military, economic and financial support, this would also mean that we would only be allowed limited offensive military actions?"
A smile spread across Shu's muzzle, and leaned on the table a bit "The FDC would allow you to make offensive operations independent of the bloc, we provide defense of your nation, and you may do what you wish for offense, though you may ask for assistance from the council, and on a case-by-case basis, the members may agree to join you. provided you don't break the rules of the FDC, piracy or such. If you wish, I do have a rough copy of the Treaty for you to look over, it outlines such questions and says what is allowed and not allowed."
"Yes, if you could. That would be helpful." Erika tossed a glance at Arabel who was playing with her tail, then turned back to Shu, "Is there anything else you would like to discuss? If not then we would like to invite you to dinner."
Arabel stopped playing as soon as she heard the word dinner. She hadn't eaten anything since returning from the Imperial Academy, her mouth began to salivate, though it was only noticeable to Erika.
This time, Harris quickly spoke up "We'd love dinner with you, we haven't had much in the way of decent food, just MREs really." Giving a nod, Shu agreed with Harris "Yes, we would be honored to join you for dinner, I'll have Harris give you the datapad with the Treaty on it, and otherwise I believe we're satisfied with the diplomatic mission thus far, if you'd like to lead the way, we'll follow."
He still used the same transmission and IFF as he had during the Battle of Thramas, so those participants would easily have noticed and identified it. He sat there, tapping his long claws on the arm of his chair, the tips of his claws beginning to chip from not being groomed for some time, but where more than deadly enough to fight. Looking over to Marine Officer Harris, he lifted his chin, as if expecting an answer, to which Harris shook his head. So they continued to wait.
The GAE were still cautious of the Thramas system, it was after all a system on their borders that an event had occurred bordering war with a still unknown enemy. They kept a fleet ready to jump into Thramas should anything were to harm the destroyer they put into the system for long term observation. Erika Brunhildr had just recently relieved one ship of their three months in the system, they had only been here for about two weeks or so with their life support running silently and everything else powered down. The experimental AI unit on board that piloted the ship, kept the crew down to a minimum, around 100 men.
The AIN Maass had been sitting and watching the new arrival in the debris field of still non removed GAE ships, painted to look as if it had been destroyed like the ships around her. Erika ordered her crew to stations as they restarted the reactor and began moving out of the debris field, sending out the signal used by the AIN Erika II, the second ultimate fast battleship involved during the Thramas incident.
The Comms Officer, slightly fidgety, worked over the comms and the IFFs now coming to light. Shu had to replace the old Communication Officer after the Unnamed hacking, and thus he had chosen Balack. Though he had a terrible fidgeting problem, his skills in tasking several incoming communications earned him the right to be on the bridge crew. He shakingly spoke up "Admiral Shu, I have signals coming up identifying as the 'AIN Erika II', they belong to the Grand Araxium Empire, how shall I proceed?"
Shu slowly lifted his claws to his chin, scratching his gruff fur there "Send out a hail, let them know we're in need of supplies, and that we wish to seek harbor in friendly territory." Balack nodded, before getting back to the Comms "GAE Vessel, this is the Dectrothian Corsair Vessel 'Tranquil Fiend', both I and our fleet are in need of repairs, resupply and safe harbor. If you are in need of further diplomatic questionings, I can transfer you to Corsair Admiral Shen Shu."
Shu himself looked out towards the system, the debris, the carnage and more than one of the pieces identifying as a piece of the several Dectrose ships damaged here. Though he made sure the salvagers did the best they could, he knew that their efforts couldn't scrub out all of the pieces. Though it was almost hard to see how this system could regain any semblance of peace after the events that happened here.
Erika's comms officer relayed what he heard to her, she sent back an immediate reply. "Tell them to follow us back to Erlun, send them the coordinates as well along with the clearance codes to access the docks." Then turning to the other comms officer. "Alert Admiral Viktoriya, we're going back with a friendly fleet and ending our recon early."
With that, the GAE ship prepped its drive and jumped out of system. The coordinates she gave would lead them back to their major docks on Erlun, capital of the Araxium Empire.
The Corsair fleet prepped it's Warp Drives, whining softly as it took an extra moment, before departing the system, following the coordinates to Erlun. The twelve ships soon burst into the system, purple flashes and a donut-shaped ring coming from the engines of each ship, signaled that they had arrived to those in the system. They took little time in finding and slowly moving to the docks, reaching out to contact any traffic controllers in the area to help guide the warships into their specified docking patterns, if they had such a system.
Greeting the Dectrose fleet was the Royal Defense Fleet, eight ultimate fast battleships and multiple smaller ships conducting patrol and exercises around the system. Leading the defense fleet Admiral Viktoriya hailed the visiting fleet from her flagship, the AIN Kaiser.
"Welcome to Erlun, capital of the Araxium Empire, the ground facilities have been prepared to repair and resupply your ships. Additional facilities have also been prepared for your temporary stay here. Follow ground control to the docks."
Just as she had finished her transmission, ground control immediately pitched in and began guiding the Dectrose fleet to the ground.
Shu tapped his claw on the comms "The pleasure is ours m'lady, I thank you on behalf of my fleet, and our captains." Setting in the course provided, the helmsman guided the 'Tranquil Fiend' down towards the planet, the fleets dispersing slightly as they each where directed to docking pads on the planet. Once there, Shu opened a canister of nanites, the machines scrubbing his body and effectively cleaning him and his suit up to be nice and tidy. The idea came from Gavin, and he smirked as he thought of that boy, wondering what trouble he's getting himself into.
Though as the nanites returned to the canister, Shu stepped off his chair and moved with purpose to the docking bay, where he could take a shuttle down and meet with anyone the GAE had waiting for him. This took little time, and the Hawkbat III lifted up, out and down to the ground.
MAR KAT 8x8 supply vehicles rolled about carrying supplies to the ships parked all over the docks. In the distance, the AIN Maass touched down in a destroyer dock, depressed into the ground. Erika stepped off and into a staff car driving towards the person who looked to be in charge. She got off and saluted.
"Welcome to Erlun, I have already contacted the empress and she is requesting to meet you in person. If we take a drive now we should be able to pick her up at the Academy."
Giving a bow, Shu spoke in his gruff, deep-sounding voice "It'd be my honor, though if I may bring my Marine Officer with me as a personal guard, I would greatly appreciate it." He took a few moments to lift from his bow, and then entered the vehicle. Marine Officer Harris waited for the response, and if they had accepted, he joined Shu, but if not, he would tend to the ship. Either way, Shu was looking forward to letting his crew get some rest.
"I have no problems with that. Let's go." Erika got back in and drove out of the docks, their escort of two armored cars joined them as they left. The weather was good, though it was summer it wasn't too hot and it was already evening.
When they had reached the Academy, classes there had already ended and Arabel bounced down the stairs and towards the waiting car. She was wearing a typical school uniform with a short skirt, her bushy tail poking out from underneath and her two wolf ears standing up on her head and her hair tied back into a long ponytail. To most people she looked to be just 16 years old, but she was only over 200 years old, with wars getting in the way of her studies. Getting into the vehicle, she greeted the two men inside.
"Welcome to Erlun, I am Kaiserin Arabel von Raxia. I think we've met before when we were investigating the Thramas system?"
For once, Shu had a break from the usual hot temperature on the Dectrose ships, those Dectrothians loved to turn up the heat, and though he knew Harris had his thermal undersuit on to keep him warm, Shu had no complaints. Though as they pulled up to the Academy, Harris and Shu both stared at the wolf-like girl hopping and happily bouncing towards the car, as Harris had to slap Shu's shoulder when he pressed in for a closer look, putting the Admiral back in his seat, as Raxia joined them.
"Corsair Admiral Shen Shu, this here is Marine Officer Harris, I recall that Thramas was quite a mess, but I'm glad you've made it out of it intact." He flashed a toothy smile, this Foo Dog styled teeth showing off his impressive fangs, as he continued "After Thramas, my fleet had left to scout the Zakar Frontier, but much to their boredom, we had found nothing as of yet. We fully plan on heading back out that way, but I think my crews need sme time to rest." He tilted his large head "And what of you and the Araxium Empire after Thramas?"
With Arabel in the car, Erika began driving again, this time towards the imperial palace. On the way passing by the eastern docks again before turning onto the main stretch of road that led to the south entrance to the palace. Vehicles of all sorts were parked along the side the main road, automobiles, motorcycles, armored cars and tanks, their crews relaxing inside pubs.
"Our progress has been less than eventful, thank you for asking. The Erika II is still in repair and we have been slowly building up a fleet of new ships." She said, pointing out to the docks, the superstructure of the AIN Erika II was barely visible past all the parked warships and flak towers beside and around the ship. "The news of the incident has already been made public, after all, we can't hide the disappearance of a few warships crewed by the men and women of the families living here. The civilian population is handling the incident surprisingly well."
Erika halted the car outside the palace entrance, the armored car escort broke off towards the nearby military garage. The sun was already going down when they reached the palace.
"We'll talk more inside. Erika will take you to one of the meeting rooms, I'll be joining you later." Arabel said as she got out of the car first, rushing up the stairs with her bag and disappearing into the building.
Shu watched Arabel depart, silent for a moment before turning back to Erika "If it means anything, I'm truly sorry for your losses, and I hope repairs are done swiftly. Though it is reassuring that the populace hasn't caused any disturbance following the incident." Harris tapped into the Dectrothian Network, and continued to be silent, his eyes staring at a blank part of the vehicle. Shu himself looked out of the vehicle, seeing these military forces relaxed and without much worry.
Though before long he followed Erika out of the car, allowing her to lead the way, as Harris just kept quiet, as Shu tried to lighten the mood. "I must say, your architecture is quite pleasing to the eye, though of course, I don't remember much of Dectrothian architecture before I was a Corsair. And speaking of the Corsairs," he turned to Harris "Contact Alqursan Command and see what new orders are coming from them, as well as a request to utilize the Dectrose Empire's Official Diplomatic Channel."
"Thank you for your concern. Unfortunately our people have gone through enough wars to understand that we cannot escape for long periods without violence." Erika led them towards a busier part of the massive lobby, businessmen, workers and soldiers walked about in a hurry. People entered and left through the entrances or through the under level subways that connected to the whole city.
"The architecture hasn't changed much from when we last left our own galaxy. What we see here is just an improved structure of the other imperial palace in our home galaxy."
Tall archways, massive structure, one would be able to describe the imperial palace as an oversized church repurposed to accommodate the imperial family and the military. It was therefore the largest structure in the whole city, and was also at the center. Much of the lower floors were made up primarily of offices and military facilities while the upper floors from level thirty onwards was where the actual palace began. Erika led Shu and Harris into an elevator that shot up through the building, past all the lower floors and straight to the command floor 128 levels above the ground. The view was spectacular and stretched far beyond the city, one could easily view the beautiful mountain ranges to the north, the great plains to the west, an ancient forest to the south and the sea to the east.
The room Erika had prepared for the Dectrose overlooked the sea with the massive reinforced glass window. Below, the large shadow of the massive palace dwarfed the whole city in the sunset and a moon rose upwards illuminating the sea. From the room the docks were also clearly visible, the whole place being lit up in bright white flood lights shining from flak towers. "Please, have a seat. Arabel should be joining us shortly. From this floor we can easily access the military archives a level below us, the history archives a floor below that. Should you chose to stay here for the night, we can have rooms above prepared for you as well."
Setting his things down, Shu and Harris took the comfortable seats and relaxed for a moment, enjoying the view and taking in all of what they seen and heard thus far, before Shu spoke up after stretching his arms "I believe my crew deserve some good R&R, we've been scouting out the Zakar Frontier for some time, but sadly we have come across nothing in our travels. Though if the information from Alqursan Command is correct, then I'm going to be heading right back out there without touching back at base. Decoroso Command seems to think there is something out here from the information they've dissected, it just means my men are generally bored and restless."
Harris tapped the RAVD node a few times before placing it in reach of both of the Corsairs "I agree Admiral Shu, and I think I can open up the treasury to allow some amount of shore leave, so they can get their rowdiness out in a controlled and safe environment. Alqursan also has thankfully updated our accounts so if you want to make a purchase, you can, Shu." Giving a nod, Shu lifted his clawed hand "Let's just wait for Arabel before we get too far now, I don't want to overstay our welcome."
While waiting for Arabel to arrive, Erika sat down opposite the two men and began accessing and arranging several documents to be ready for when they did begin their discussions.
It took the wolf girl perhaps another fifteen minutes before she arrived wearing a small white dress and grey house slippers. The clock above the door read 1930 hours, quite early for Arabel to already be ready for sleep though Erika would guess that the younger girl would spend the rest of the night watching shows in bed.
Taking her seat beside Erika, she made a sort of semi-audiable crinkling sound of plastic as she relaxed in the seat.
Erika leaned in, "Well, before we begin. Is there anything you'd like to ask us?"
Shu shifted in his seat, Harris cocking his head in a confused manner at the sound from Arabel, before Shu placed his elbows on the table, then placed his jaw close to his resting paws "Well, we would like to stay here overnight to give the men some time to relax and have some shore leave, of course if you wish to give us the permission for that, and because we're currently operating within the Dectrose's diplomatic operations here, I would like to discuss the usual 'First Contact' mission objectives."
Shaking his head a little, as if to re-focus, Harris tapped the RAVD node again, bringing up the documents that came with a First Contact. Several agreements, trade and diplomatic appeared, along with an invitation that Shu authorized, but held back as the RAVD node shifted the document towards Erika and Arabel, not fully sure who is going to sign. "As usual, Dectrose sends over a Non-Aggression Pact, as well as a Trade Agreement. You may choose to sign them or not, but we do give our recently updated maps and the history of our empire as a gesture of good faith."
The Foo Dog leaned back now, stroking his long scruff under his chin in an almost contemplating fashion, waving his claws at the node as more information appeared in from of him on the table.
"You'll be allowed to stay for as long as you'd like. I'll have the military prepare some quarters for your men. The rooms just above this floor will also be prepared for you if you'd like to stay here." Erika picked up the document and passed it to Arabel for her to sign. More crinkling noises this time as Arabel crossed her legs and sat upright to sign the documents.
Meanwhile, she brought up a massive holographic projection of the areas thus far explored by GAE fleets in Ancerious. Clearly marked out were the locations of other factions that had made contact with the Araxium Empire; the Divine Davia Empire and the IRS. Along with a few grey shaded areas showing the locations of the other factions that were associated with the two previously mentioned factions if any had been mentioned or been allowed to know about during and after their first contacts.
"Well, since you are here, I guess we can show you a little bit of our empire. The Araxium Empire of the Raxian Galaxy." Erika accessed her side of the table, bringing up a map of the Raxia galaxy, along with the positions of the Araxium Empire and the allied territories. The areas taken by the galactic plague were also shown.
"As you can see here, we have been able to unify about a quarter of our home galaxy. The nearby factions surrounding us are allied and we're relatively peaceful with one another. But the problem is this." She said, pointing to the area controlled by the galactic plague. "A kind of hive mind species created by a civilization long since forgotten, they consume everything in their path. Which is also the reason why the empire is here in Ancerious."
Harris gave a sigh of relief, updating the crews in the Corsair fleet and allowing them out into some well-deserved shore leave, as Shu paused the stroking of his chin fur and perked his ears at Arabel as more sounds came from her, and then resumed. "Thank you so very much, I assure you these men can get rowdy at times, but they know the limits, if you could send your local laws towards my Marine Officer here, we can let that subject rest, and I thank you for agreeing to the Trade and Non-Aggression Pact, no doubt Trudchen will contact you on the finer details of such later."
He leaned forward, placing both his paws on the table now as he focused on the map, noting IRS and tapping his claws on the table, before allowing his thoughts to be stored away in his processor for later, as the topic then shifted towards the Araxium's home galaxy, and noting the 'Galactic Plague's positions on that map. "Yes, several nations in Ancerious seem to have such problems in their origin galaxies, it seems a common occurrence. We ourselves are involved in skirmishes and wars with a 'Meralis Republic' back in the Horizon and Nova galaxies, but the Dectrose are far from saying we even control a small majority of our own galaxy."
"That plague wasn't there before. At least not until we wandered into the center of our universe, it spread from the opposite side, an area that still remains unexplored." Erika explained. "Seemed like whatever civilization was at the center of the galaxy before us wanted to take the rest of us to hell with them. Araxium history isn't that different from others, though I think we've suffered an average amount compared to others."
She handed Shu a relatively small book containing the history of the Araxium Empire, some 500 years worth of history. Much of it was what the well educated Araxian civilian would know. At the same time she handed a small sheet of paper outlining what was and wasn't illegal in the empire. Araxia is a mostly free country, people were allowed to do most things as long as it didn't disrupt their national unity.
"You can keep that book, we have quite a few kept in boxes somewhere around here. Mostly for when foreign diplomats come visiting for the first time. However, concerning our galaxy's plague. We may not be able to stop it, all it does is consume planets, leaving them completely inhospitable. People who come into contact of it either die a slow painful death or lose their minds and body to the plague, effectively becoming a pawn. Most of us here in the army high command fear that if we cannot succeed here then we will be completely destroyed."
Arabel had already noticed that at least one person was aware of the sounds she was making. She was and yet wasn't intentionally doing it, and if anyone was to blame she would jokingly place it on her dead father. A side effect of being a cross breed was her slightly feral nature, while it was mostly in the form of bloodlust and the need to occasionally bite someone or something. And when it wasn't mostly her need to kill it was her incontinence, something she could never avoid even if she wanted to, it was something that could have been solved by now with the tech they had but it was that she simply didn't want to. She had grown accustomed to it, and some people have associated her with it.
"For a moment there, you both seemed a little distracted. Is there anything you'd like to know?" A small smile spread across her face, whatever move she made, shifting her weight on the chair, crossing and uncrossing her legs, she made some noise.
Shu's expression turned grave, as Erika spoke about the plague, and took the book, which he placed in front of him, skimming the first few pages quickly with a claw, as Shu also took the paper with the local laws, and then gave it to Harris, who digitized it and sent it out to the crews. Though this plague had stirred up the very core beliefs of the Dectrose, and their strong determination to not see another race die. "You won't be destroyed, I promise you that. If you ever need a safe harbor, seek us out, we won't allow your race to die."
He sent over the invitation that he had in hand over to Erika, an invitation to join a defensive power bloc, the Free Defense Council, in it, it guaranteed that all member nations will join to prevent an invasion of one's borders, diplomatic and economic stability, future joint projects and guidelines on stemming illegal trade, piracy and other things that the FDC was against. "The Dectrose and Three Domain's Alliance are already members, and we have already begun to kindle strong bonds between us. I think, in light of your situation, that it might be a good idea to think about the FDC."
Though Arabel's voice cut through his thoughts, and while Harris just turned away to avoid any awkward response, Shu's expression shifted a little, as if he knew already, from his good hearing, but was polite enough to ask "Yes, actually, You seem to look a little.. young, and you seem to be making some noise when you move your body, can you tell me why you appear so young, and what the noise is?"
"Yes, I am quite young, the youngest empress of the Araxium Empire. And I'm also what we call a Zwitterding, or crossbreed. Normally the child of a human father and a Katzian mother will be a Katzian, while a katzian father and human mother will produce a human child. There was simply no way to create something like myself by natural methods. While my father was human and my mother is katzian, I was created as a sort of experiment to see if we could blend the best points of a human with the best points of a katzian. Humans of Araxia tended to be more strategically minded and lived longer, while katzians were known for their great ability to hunt prey. To explain simply, I was created as a test subject in a test tube." Arabel stood from her seat and slowly made her way to the other side of the table, Erika just watched her. With every step the girl took, she made noise, something Erika never noticed anymore after being accustomed to it.
"However, there was no such thing as perfect. While I can hunt prey easily with my katzian sense of smell and hearing, I live a shorter life, an estimated 100 years. Considering my position as one of the few zwitterding to ever survive, most people outside the military do not like us because we're different. But also because we have a probability to revert the katzian part of us to turn feral if we're not careful. My mother is a grey wolf, that will explain my ears, tail and hair color. But one of the great many side effects of being a zwitterding is that most zwitterding are incontinent. And in my case, I don't choose when I take a leak."
While Erika looked over the invitation Arabel sat beside Shu, pulling the bottom of her dress up high enough to show him what was making the crinkling noises. "I have more cuter designed diapers than the one I'm wearing now. But they all serve the same purpose. Of course, with our current tech we could solve this issue but the few of the zwitterding who are incontinent are near impossible to find. And as for me, I kind of like it. But to answer your question as to why I look so young, is that I was created as such, this body may only last me 100 years, but in all my reincarnations using the OHKA officer relay system, my outwardly age will always make me look like a 16 year old human girl."
Listening to the young-looking 'Zwitterding', the Foo Dog perked his ears at her, Harris was making himself busy with assigning crews on shifts to keep skeleton crews ont he ships, and rotating shore leaves so they can still be ready at a moment's notice. Shu himself wondered if these Katzians had any of the same genetic traits of what the Dectrose had labeled his own race, 'Alhayans'. Though he'd need access to such biology, it was all just speculation at this point unless he could get a hold of such information, but seeing as the invitation was pressing enough, he pushed it away for another day.
Though the revelation that Arabel was the product of a test tube was shocking, to say the least, and it would show on his expression, soon followed by worry, knowing that the problems Arabel has where caused by such, but the young-looking Zwitterding seemed okay and even preferred this lifestyle, and Shu respected that she had adapted to life and be as comfortable as possible.
He watched as she sat next to him, feeling an urge to hold her in the most primal instincts in his mind, and to comfort her, but she showed him in confidence her diaper, and Shu glanced down, then back into Arabel's eyes, it gave him a sort of pain, to see this happen, but he reminded himself that once again, she was comfortable and happy, and he felt glad of it "I see, you are a very strong individual, for having to live like you have, and to be accustomed to it, I can respect your ability to adapt, and I can say that you will do great things in your future, I have a feeling you'll be just fine Arabel."
He smiled, and patted her shoulder with his paw as a show of reassurance.
Erika cleared her throat, grabbing Arabel's attention for a moment. "The Araxium Empire will accept your invitation to the FDC. I suppose that aside from proving each other with military, economic and financial support, this would also mean that we would only be allowed limited offensive military actions?"
A smile spread across Shu's muzzle, and leaned on the table a bit "The FDC would allow you to make offensive operations independent of the bloc, we provide defense of your nation, and you may do what you wish for offense, though you may ask for assistance from the council, and on a case-by-case basis, the members may agree to join you. provided you don't break the rules of the FDC, piracy or such. If you wish, I do have a rough copy of the Treaty for you to look over, it outlines such questions and says what is allowed and not allowed."
"Yes, if you could. That would be helpful." Erika tossed a glance at Arabel who was playing with her tail, then turned back to Shu, "Is there anything else you would like to discuss? If not then we would like to invite you to dinner."
Arabel stopped playing as soon as she heard the word dinner. She hadn't eaten anything since returning from the Imperial Academy, her mouth began to salivate, though it was only noticeable to Erika.
This time, Harris quickly spoke up "We'd love dinner with you, we haven't had much in the way of decent food, just MREs really." Giving a nod, Shu agreed with Harris "Yes, we would be honored to join you for dinner, I'll have Harris give you the datapad with the Treaty on it, and otherwise I believe we're satisfied with the diplomatic mission thus far, if you'd like to lead the way, we'll follow."