Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 20:06:11 GMT
UNCS Guardian
Union of Worlds exploration vessel
The bridge of the Guardian was on edge. Once again the Union was jumping into an unknown scenario and a new system. Even with the war going on ships were diverted to exploration. Evidence of communication signals and other signs associated with a sentient race never encountered before had warranted high command to send a small fleet to check it out. But he remained cautious; the last thing he wanted was for it to be an Immortal Empire trap. Casen was glued to the view screen. It was only a minute to slipstream translation to the target and he gripped his chair slightly. He was one of the newer captains and this could possibly be his very first contact scenario.
An alert chimed of imminent translation and in a few seconds the sight of slip space was once again filled with stars.
“Sir I’m reading multiple contacts including numerous ships and stations in system” The sensor operator called out “it also shows inhabitants on the planets too. Unknown configuration... this is a race we have never seen before” Casen nodded nervously then hit the broadcast button on his chair.
"This is Captain Casen of the Union of Worlds. I come in peace. To whom am I speaking?" He merely waited for the reply.
Vast swathes of a gas-like ghostly substance expanded in all directions around the Guardian, encroaching most of the system like gigantic clouds of various shades of grey and yellow. These almost-transparent gigantic entities that spanned planetary distances moved in directions unlike any regular nebula, seemingly unaffected by gravity and the passing of planets, mixing and floating around one another calmly, slowly.
As soon as the Guardian emitted its transmission they visibly began swirling rapidly, agitated by stormy turbulence and wracked by lightning bolts as they began collapsing in on themselves at an incredible rate, almost equalling the speed of light. The mysterious clouds went from spanning whole orbits to spanning only 800m in length, coalescing so suddenly it almost seemed like a black hole was about to be spawned. What came out was something completely different: three large but extremely spindly, delicate-looking vessels adorned with lengthy spikes, their hulls reflecting a muted silvery hues.
Casen stood up "All hands, be ready. Tell our escorts to not fire unless fired upon but be ready for any sudden moves" The comms officer nodded and sent the message to the small fleet. 4 escorts and numerous corvettes closed into a tight defensive formation. Casen turned again to the communications officer.
"Send a visual message to those ships" The man nodded and Casen walked onto the holopad. He bowed and then began.
"Greetings. We are a peaceful nation called the Union of Worlds. We are here to peacefully negotiate between our nations and help bring prosperity to us both. Together we can accomplish great things. Casen out"
The message reached the ships and Casen watched the view screen for their next moves, hoping they would heed his peaceful wishes.
One of the ships softly flickered, sending a powerful signal to Casen's ship. Not a regular radio signal, but a strange wave-energy signal that exhibited impossible simultaneous polarities and a non-local source. The enigmatic signal scrambled most of the quantum systems in a wide radius, contaminating with information.
What was carried in the signal was the reply, simultaneously in all combinations of structure possible so that at least one matched the Union's language and informatics language. It was also video, but the video was a scrambled, flashing mess without rhyme or reason, with geometric shapes morphing, fusing and intersecting like strobes.
It seemed like it was already speaking, and Casen's crew had only gotten a fragment carrying strange words.
"......Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the void; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret phase; believe it not. For as the electrons coming out of the primordial flash and shineth even unto us; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be....."
Casen raised an eyebrow. "Sorry sir, this is just a fragment. Their technology and language seems to be very advanced. I can try and isolate their specific frequency that translated to us so we can hear them right"
"Do it" Casen nodded. The man spent a few minutes thoroughly manipulating and fine-tuning the communications systems of the ship from the vantage point of his control station. A chime sounded the man nodded to Casen. The captain once again made a message.
"To whom am I speaking? Your last transmission was fragmented please respond" At least this time their response would be a lot clearer though not perfect, the captain thought.
The signal finally stabilized, going from a chaotic incoherent flashing cacophony to a strange effigy-like icon, two circles of different sizes being crossed by a long line, with words below written in an unknown language that escaped attempts at translation.
"...You appear to be Homo sapiens and, as such, you do not contaminate our hallowed orbits and we offer you our most humble greetings in the name of the Holy Syntagma. Yet for as strongly as our willpower is inclined, dearest homologue, we cannot recognize your faces as those of a kindred soul’s. Tell us, then, Most Honoured Unknown, from where do you come?"
Casen tried to ignore the obviously religious overtones of the synthetic voice transcript not letting it get in the way of the negotiations. "We hail from a different Universe.” He said. “We have come here to explore and seek new allies in different realms. We are the Union of Worlds. If we are desecrating your holy ground we can move to another place we can negotiate if you so wish?" He said trying to keep the conversation on an unthreatening tone. He didn’t want war, nor did he want to fight whoever he was meeting.
A couple more of the unknowns, spiky ships materialized in different positions, slightly larger than the first ones, and continued on various paths. Each one was heralded by the repeated swirling and cyclonic collapsing of its transparent aether.
"Need not worry. The human species offers no desecration to these lands, please find hospice in our most humble monument to the Son of Man, this is our consecrated system of Oionos"
Casen relaxed slightly. "Thank you friends. We shall stay for a short period. We hope to negotiate a non-aggression pact or possibly an alliance depending on your stance. However I think it best for us to learn more about each other’s empires before any important negotiations are carried out, so let me introduce mine. The Union doesn’t just contain humans; we have many races including machines, so I believe we can find common ground. We shall follow you to your place of choosing. Please lead the way. And thank you." Casen signalled the fleet to follow the ships and told them to stand down. He made a sigh of relief at least this hadn’t degenerated into shootout.
Somewhat puzzlingly, the ships didn't turn back and led them but instead dissolved back into the enormous clouds, which then started flowing like a river that intersected the orbit of a planet.
The whole system was a carefully-organized structure, like a giant piece of clockwork. Huge lotus-like space stations spanning multiple kilometres yet almost devoid of solidity floated in every lagrangian point of every planet and moon, sending powerful microwave beams down to ships and planets. Casen could tell, even from the distant point of his ship, that the rocky planets of the system had been extremely terraformed; gardens dotted with lakes and crossed by gigantic canals covered entire continental areas, peacefully and lonesomely enjoying the sunshine of a carefully-controlled planetary weather. Smooth shapes of often abstract sculpture and massive decorated domes were what was left of entire mountain ranges. Clusters of stations orbited around the blue star, carrying out what appeared to be industrial work.
Despite the intense space presence, there was not a single city or structured settlement in the entire system. It was as if gardens, carefully trimmed recreation areas and serene waters was all there was to the entire worlds.
"Please accept our most sincere apologies when we say we do not believe your alliances or treaties concern us, dear guests, as we are not interested in the multiple haggles of the unhinged human species"
Casen nodded. "As you wish. We implore you to be careful, however. There is a war going on and neutral parties are often dragged into it. We shall stay a while and try to learn more about you. However as I said the Union is of many species all are welcome in or empire" Casen stepped down from his holographic transmitter.
"Tell command what we have found. We stay here for 2 days and learn as much as we can and try to convince them otherwise" Casen went back onto the holopad "Where and what do you wish us to do while we are here? Are you interested in sharing history and information?"
"Please make your way to our humble foyer, where a deeper sharing of information will be possible." The transmission replied, as the ships moved towards the "foyer": one of the rocky planets in the system's habitability zone, criss-crossed with gigantic canals and gardens as were the others.
"As you wish." Casen nodded to the helmsman who moved out. The small Union fleet maneuvered towards the planet in a low orbit course. Once there Casen left the bridge and made his way to the hangar ready to go down to the planet below. He entered the shuttle along with 10 of his honour guard. He once again waited for a reply before take-off on the comms system.
"Feel welcome in the surface; we have a small yet highly regarded and noble welcome committee waiting for you." The transmission said, and forwarded some coordinates.
Casen nodded "Thank you for your gracious offer." Casen then signalled the pilot to take off.
With the coordinates locked the engines powered up and the shuttle flew out of the hangar. Entering the upper atmosphere in a few minutes, the heat of re-entry rocking the shuttle as Casen looked around at the men around him in ceremonial combat armour. Finally the shuttle entered the atmosphere and made its way to the facility below.
The shuttle came to a halt in a fairly deserted part of the planet, a giant ornamented plaza that covered the area of a large city, inhabited by nothing but multiple parallel lines of small statues, several floating cylinders with an unknown function that prodded the ground with an articulated appendage, and bloodless globs of flesh strewn about in random locations. The statues were mostly of human figures, animals and combinations thereof, some of them incomplete or mutilated, some parts simply floating in place. Several seemed too real to be statues, too immobile to be animals.
Pink clouds floated calmly against the unusually dark blue afternoon sky of the planet, doing so in organized lines.
In the middle of a circular grassy expanse, a woman wearing black and crimson robes, as well as multiple long collars, stood silently. Around her were four disturbing creatures, human-like bodies with cybernetic limbs that missed all the bones and most of the muscle, sustained by a robotic framework and looking like they had been turned inside-out, human and unknown organs openly visible on their bodies. The strange creatures also wore the same robes and jewellery, their heads replaced by rectangular bony plates with a single triangular hole.
The shuttle came down to rest at one end of the Plaza, its ramp came down to reveal Casen in his bright blue captain uniform, the men behind him wore normal Union combat armour and carrier plasma auto rifles across their chests, they fanned out into two lines each facing each other in front of the shuttle door as Casen walked down the centre towards the strange looking people.
He was slightly off put by their appearance though he wasn’t afraid. He had seen far worse... he instantly dismissed the thoughts of the Draken war from his mind and saluted by banging his fist on his chest.
"Greetings I am Casen of the Union, to whom may I be speaking?" He said with a smile not devoid of professionalism.
"Greetings, most honoured guest." The woman said in a softer voice but in the exact same enunciation as the transmission from the ships. "My name is Zrz.”
She was a relatively tall yet normal-looking human woman, slender and with freckles all over her face. A single lock of hair fell over her face, the rest of her hair was curly and combed backwards. She bowed softly. "I have blissfully received from my holiest benefactors the infinitely honourable task of being your guide in the name of our civilization."
"I am honoured to meet you, and very honoured for you to let us see your grounds as well as talk with us, I wish for good relations between us." Casen bowed. He was a little uneasy but happy they were good enough to listen to him. "If there is a place where you wish us to discuss matters please lead the way, if it’s alright with you I will have 2 guards accompany me. Merely as a precaution, of course."
Upon saying that, the grotesque creatures quickly brought their own weaponry to bear in the blink of an eye: long laser rifles stored in their robes and covered in bile. Zrs however made them stand down, raising her hand with a gentle smile. Her demiorganic bodyguards assimilated the weaponry back into plastic-metallic bulges in their biomechanical bodies.
"Come with me, I can show you around, all of your guards and all of your weaponry are welcome, trust is an important virtue to our functioning."
"Thank you, I have to admit I’m not used to this sort of... architecture, but it’s very impressive." Casen smiled as they started walking, looking around.
"Like the architecture of our forefathers, it reflects our systems of values" She walked ahead, stepping over the grass as she made her way between the amorphous, contorted statues. "Of which I am but a humble servant. As are all humans on this world and many others... like my brothers and sisters, vowels are not allowed in my name, because I myself am just a symbol in the holiest of holy books. You see, we live much differently than you in here..."
"I can see that very clearly." Casen said merely surprised, he couldn’t understand religious notions at all, though just because he had found his truth didn’t mean they hadn’t found theirs... "So…" He said "May I ask are your people’s origins?"
"In our curious yesterday we had the superstition –as your civilization does now- that between every morning and every twilight, facts occured that were a shame to ignore. Our planet was populated by collective spectres... the Swiss Congo, the Silent Weapons Comittee, the stock market and the internet. Almost nobody knew the history of these platonic entities, but everyone knew the most infinitesimal trivialities about their congresses and relations.”
She softly caressed one of the statues with the tip of her fingers.
“Everything was read for the sake of oblivion” Zrz continued. “because it only took a few hours for new trivialities to erase memories of the old. Of all the functions, that of the politician was doubtlessly the most public. An ambassador, minister or CEO was a sort of cripple that required to be transported in large and noisy vehicles, surrounded by bikers and grenadiers.
Images and letters were more real than things. Only what was published was true. Esse est percipi was the beggining, the middle and the end of our curious concept of the world. People were naive, they believed that merchandise was good because so said its fabricator. Robbery was frequent, though nobody ignored that the posession of money gave no happiness or tranquility."
Her bodyguards accompanied silently, except for the somewhat disgusting sound of their gurgling breathing.
"On that day a great milieu of turning minds slowly shudders to life.” She mentioned, walking away from the statue. “The sun shone where it didn't before. Paradigms began to shift - imperceptibly at first, but then all at once skyscrapers and nations receded back into the earth, their occupants pouring into the streets like water and then flowing into nearby pubs and revival houses. Somewhere, in a city, our greatest minds gave birth to an artificial intelligence with an unique mutation - the gift of sentience. AIs soon vied with mankind for control of the plateau of dominance..."
Change arrived with the Evensong War. The deathless one-day war that ended all wars. Flags began to roll up and descend their poles. The night was filled with the sound of pounding drums and the light of millions of candles on the streets. Flowers bloomed from wreckage as a new species rose from the pits of the decadence of mankind. The Son of Man came dancing in, the door flung wide open by our frenzied, booted rutting."
“What happened with the governments and politicians you mentioned?” Casen asked, a bit confused and wishing she’d explain a bit more slowly. She seemed to talk as if he already knew the events, not bothering to explain in deeper detail. It was as if, for her, knowledge of what she was explaining was genetic.
“Tradition says they gradually fell into disuse. They called for elections, declared wars, imposed taxes, confiscated riches, signed arrest warrants and pretended to impose censorship but nobody in the planet obeyed them. The media stopped publishing their collaborations and their effigies. Politicians had to find honest jobs; some became good comedians or good witch-doctors. Reality was no doubt more complex than my humbly short version.”
Casen raised an eyebrow. This was all rather strange to him, then again the Union had its fair share of weird and wonderful species as well as allies, The Skia and Tenebrae being some of the weirdest though no less honourable.
"Seems like a massive occasion, sounds like the moment of ascendancy for your people, unification is a great thing. When our Emperor Myric united the peoples of the Union he did so to create a better tomorrow, He got rid of notions of decadence and greed, as well as difference and inequality. Those in the Union are equal, and we all now live towards the same goal. Peace and unification. This is what we seek with all nations, including yours." Casen said remembering with a heavy air of reverence the time he had stood on Forona alongside the Emperors troops forging a new way of life.
"We have long given up on the pretences to ascension; that were most certainly admirable." She looked around to the landscape. A few small aircraft silently floated in the distance. It made Casen notice how thorough the silence was, it was a hollowing, wicked silence. "We could never escape from a here and a now. This is not to say we have given up on change. For instance we are no longer born; we no longer build cities or have leaders. We are created artificially, fully endowed of purpose and brilliance, we learn, we serve and then we choose to die. Nobody is excluded; I myself, too, will one day face oblivion, with my heart full of gratitude to our divine benefactors for giving me life and then death."
Casen flinched. He didn’t say anything, any personal conflict could jeopardise the relations between these two empires. However he was not happy with that sentence... Any being controlled by another was inherently wrong in the Unions eyes, however it wasn’t in the Unions interests to step into others empire affairs, only when one party asked for help and was being repressed, These... Humans or whatever they were seemed to be happy with their methods and for now that was good enough.
"So what is your purpose here? Did you find this galaxy or did your people come here for exploration?" Casen asked.
"Our purpose is spreading our way of life, expanding and creating something beyond ourselves..." She made her way across an extremely shallow, flat creek that hardly reached up to her bare ankles, along which many lotii floated down. "We are just the Ancerious missionaries, willing to develop all the poor lost souls of this galaxy."
Casen again wondered "Does this mean you are trying to convert all those in this galaxy? Or only those who wish to be converted?" Casen asked; he knew this question was going to be the big one.
"That depends more on the others than it does on us." She said with a smile, crouching down on the creek and gently taking one of the flowers in her hands. "In a long enough time, everyone will be fit to accept our way. Our principles are self-defending."
"Does this mean you will seek to convert the Union?" Casen asked, he was now growing uneasy if these people wanted to convert the Union it would only lead to one sad factor... war.
The Union bowed to no other race or religion, they respected those who did have a religion but would never bow, especially if forced. Many had tried before... and each time much blood was spilled. Casen closed his eyes and let out a breath of stress.
"Your 'Union' does seem to be a near perfect reflection of an order that is in peril of collapsing. True to say it craves to collapse. Any symmetry with appearance of order seems to mesmerize your citizens. How can you not submit to the Syntagma, the elaborate and vast evidence of an ordered intellect?" She came out on the other side of the creek which traversed the plaza in a geometrical fractal pattern. "If you allow me to say so with all due respect, my dearest guest."
Casen sighed "I suppose there is no way in your sight that we can coexist together? We do not bow to another, no matter what. We have found our truth in the Universe. We do not seek to try to be subverted by another" Casen said trying to change their minds.
"Our beliefs are not a matter of universal truth. We believe nobody can achieve such and that the idea shows signs of a lack of evolution." She said, one of the aircraft flying wide circles around them at high altitude. "But nevertheless the Syntagma is as wise as it is benevolent, and consider violence a most crass and counterproductive form of proselytism. As such you can rest easy, very little blood has been shed in the name of our religion."
"Then is it possible for us to co-exist? The Union would happily live alongside your masters in peace; we seek no war or fighting. Only that peace reigns" Casen said, he was hoping they would see the benefit in peace rather than war.
"Of course. Besides, conversion to the Syntagma is not a matter of simple imposition." Zrz kept guiding them through the gardens. "It's not just a religion for men but also a religion for mountains, rivers, biospheres, asteroids and nebula as you can see by the extremely organized nature of our worlds. To simply and blindly convert the masses does not fit within our canon. Eons ago you were prepared, eons to come maybe you or others will be too."
"Well it is of great delight that I say I am glad that we could avoid confrontation. And I must apologise for us being 'unfit' as you would say. However, I must ask what stance would you be willing to take towards us? If you would like us to leave you alone and remain neutral that can be arranged however I feel a non-aggression pact would be of mutual benefit to us both" Casen said with a bow, smiling. Thank the Emperor that was avoided...
"As I said before, political matters concern us not. We are above all humans, we live our lives in full expression of what that means; metaphysical matters and treaties are not within our jurisdictions but rather those of our demiorganic and most highly revered axiomatic AI benefactors." She mentioned, turning towards Casen with a natural look. "Although the fact that you mentioned your own people are in a war might explain your interest for treaties."
"I’m afraid it does” Casen sighed “Though we are usually like this out of war, as we seek peace above all things. This was has merely intensified it.
We are fighting to stop oppression and the conquest of an evil empire. The Immortal Empire, they attacked one of our allies out of nowhere and without provocation, they killed innocent men women and children and scorched everything their armies trampled upon. That was when our people decided months later to help our allies after careful consideration. Now we are fighting alongside them to preserve peace and stop the chaos"
"If your own troops are willing to die over a piece of paper and the abstract notion of a distant, external suffering perhaps they crave death above all things." She said with an analytic look to her of cold, intellectual curiosity. "May I ask you about this Immortal Empire you speak of? Are they that different from your Union, commander?"
"Our troops accept the risk of dying in honour of our brotherhood with a fellow empire, they have done the same for us in the past.” Casen corrected with an air of authority, annoyed at the jab against his brothers in arms, which was enough for Zrz’s demiorganic bodyguards to tense up, a tension that was reflected in Casen’s own honor guard. “As for the Immortal Empire, they believe in oppression of all they find, they conquer other nations and subdue them by military means. While we try to negotiate and live alongside those of other nature the Immortal Empire merely shoot first and ask questions later. The Union and the Immortal Empire are very different from each other"
Union of Worlds exploration vessel
The bridge of the Guardian was on edge. Once again the Union was jumping into an unknown scenario and a new system. Even with the war going on ships were diverted to exploration. Evidence of communication signals and other signs associated with a sentient race never encountered before had warranted high command to send a small fleet to check it out. But he remained cautious; the last thing he wanted was for it to be an Immortal Empire trap. Casen was glued to the view screen. It was only a minute to slipstream translation to the target and he gripped his chair slightly. He was one of the newer captains and this could possibly be his very first contact scenario.
An alert chimed of imminent translation and in a few seconds the sight of slip space was once again filled with stars.
“Sir I’m reading multiple contacts including numerous ships and stations in system” The sensor operator called out “it also shows inhabitants on the planets too. Unknown configuration... this is a race we have never seen before” Casen nodded nervously then hit the broadcast button on his chair.
"This is Captain Casen of the Union of Worlds. I come in peace. To whom am I speaking?" He merely waited for the reply.
Vast swathes of a gas-like ghostly substance expanded in all directions around the Guardian, encroaching most of the system like gigantic clouds of various shades of grey and yellow. These almost-transparent gigantic entities that spanned planetary distances moved in directions unlike any regular nebula, seemingly unaffected by gravity and the passing of planets, mixing and floating around one another calmly, slowly.
As soon as the Guardian emitted its transmission they visibly began swirling rapidly, agitated by stormy turbulence and wracked by lightning bolts as they began collapsing in on themselves at an incredible rate, almost equalling the speed of light. The mysterious clouds went from spanning whole orbits to spanning only 800m in length, coalescing so suddenly it almost seemed like a black hole was about to be spawned. What came out was something completely different: three large but extremely spindly, delicate-looking vessels adorned with lengthy spikes, their hulls reflecting a muted silvery hues.
Casen stood up "All hands, be ready. Tell our escorts to not fire unless fired upon but be ready for any sudden moves" The comms officer nodded and sent the message to the small fleet. 4 escorts and numerous corvettes closed into a tight defensive formation. Casen turned again to the communications officer.
"Send a visual message to those ships" The man nodded and Casen walked onto the holopad. He bowed and then began.
"Greetings. We are a peaceful nation called the Union of Worlds. We are here to peacefully negotiate between our nations and help bring prosperity to us both. Together we can accomplish great things. Casen out"
The message reached the ships and Casen watched the view screen for their next moves, hoping they would heed his peaceful wishes.
One of the ships softly flickered, sending a powerful signal to Casen's ship. Not a regular radio signal, but a strange wave-energy signal that exhibited impossible simultaneous polarities and a non-local source. The enigmatic signal scrambled most of the quantum systems in a wide radius, contaminating with information.
What was carried in the signal was the reply, simultaneously in all combinations of structure possible so that at least one matched the Union's language and informatics language. It was also video, but the video was a scrambled, flashing mess without rhyme or reason, with geometric shapes morphing, fusing and intersecting like strobes.
It seemed like it was already speaking, and Casen's crew had only gotten a fragment carrying strange words.
"......Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the void; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret phase; believe it not. For as the electrons coming out of the primordial flash and shineth even unto us; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be....."
Casen raised an eyebrow. "Sorry sir, this is just a fragment. Their technology and language seems to be very advanced. I can try and isolate their specific frequency that translated to us so we can hear them right"
"Do it" Casen nodded. The man spent a few minutes thoroughly manipulating and fine-tuning the communications systems of the ship from the vantage point of his control station. A chime sounded the man nodded to Casen. The captain once again made a message.
"To whom am I speaking? Your last transmission was fragmented please respond" At least this time their response would be a lot clearer though not perfect, the captain thought.
The signal finally stabilized, going from a chaotic incoherent flashing cacophony to a strange effigy-like icon, two circles of different sizes being crossed by a long line, with words below written in an unknown language that escaped attempts at translation.
"...You appear to be Homo sapiens and, as such, you do not contaminate our hallowed orbits and we offer you our most humble greetings in the name of the Holy Syntagma. Yet for as strongly as our willpower is inclined, dearest homologue, we cannot recognize your faces as those of a kindred soul’s. Tell us, then, Most Honoured Unknown, from where do you come?"
Casen tried to ignore the obviously religious overtones of the synthetic voice transcript not letting it get in the way of the negotiations. "We hail from a different Universe.” He said. “We have come here to explore and seek new allies in different realms. We are the Union of Worlds. If we are desecrating your holy ground we can move to another place we can negotiate if you so wish?" He said trying to keep the conversation on an unthreatening tone. He didn’t want war, nor did he want to fight whoever he was meeting.
A couple more of the unknowns, spiky ships materialized in different positions, slightly larger than the first ones, and continued on various paths. Each one was heralded by the repeated swirling and cyclonic collapsing of its transparent aether.
"Need not worry. The human species offers no desecration to these lands, please find hospice in our most humble monument to the Son of Man, this is our consecrated system of Oionos"
Casen relaxed slightly. "Thank you friends. We shall stay for a short period. We hope to negotiate a non-aggression pact or possibly an alliance depending on your stance. However I think it best for us to learn more about each other’s empires before any important negotiations are carried out, so let me introduce mine. The Union doesn’t just contain humans; we have many races including machines, so I believe we can find common ground. We shall follow you to your place of choosing. Please lead the way. And thank you." Casen signalled the fleet to follow the ships and told them to stand down. He made a sigh of relief at least this hadn’t degenerated into shootout.
Somewhat puzzlingly, the ships didn't turn back and led them but instead dissolved back into the enormous clouds, which then started flowing like a river that intersected the orbit of a planet.
The whole system was a carefully-organized structure, like a giant piece of clockwork. Huge lotus-like space stations spanning multiple kilometres yet almost devoid of solidity floated in every lagrangian point of every planet and moon, sending powerful microwave beams down to ships and planets. Casen could tell, even from the distant point of his ship, that the rocky planets of the system had been extremely terraformed; gardens dotted with lakes and crossed by gigantic canals covered entire continental areas, peacefully and lonesomely enjoying the sunshine of a carefully-controlled planetary weather. Smooth shapes of often abstract sculpture and massive decorated domes were what was left of entire mountain ranges. Clusters of stations orbited around the blue star, carrying out what appeared to be industrial work.
Despite the intense space presence, there was not a single city or structured settlement in the entire system. It was as if gardens, carefully trimmed recreation areas and serene waters was all there was to the entire worlds.
"Please accept our most sincere apologies when we say we do not believe your alliances or treaties concern us, dear guests, as we are not interested in the multiple haggles of the unhinged human species"
Casen nodded. "As you wish. We implore you to be careful, however. There is a war going on and neutral parties are often dragged into it. We shall stay a while and try to learn more about you. However as I said the Union is of many species all are welcome in or empire" Casen stepped down from his holographic transmitter.
"Tell command what we have found. We stay here for 2 days and learn as much as we can and try to convince them otherwise" Casen went back onto the holopad "Where and what do you wish us to do while we are here? Are you interested in sharing history and information?"
"Please make your way to our humble foyer, where a deeper sharing of information will be possible." The transmission replied, as the ships moved towards the "foyer": one of the rocky planets in the system's habitability zone, criss-crossed with gigantic canals and gardens as were the others.
"As you wish." Casen nodded to the helmsman who moved out. The small Union fleet maneuvered towards the planet in a low orbit course. Once there Casen left the bridge and made his way to the hangar ready to go down to the planet below. He entered the shuttle along with 10 of his honour guard. He once again waited for a reply before take-off on the comms system.
"Feel welcome in the surface; we have a small yet highly regarded and noble welcome committee waiting for you." The transmission said, and forwarded some coordinates.
Casen nodded "Thank you for your gracious offer." Casen then signalled the pilot to take off.
With the coordinates locked the engines powered up and the shuttle flew out of the hangar. Entering the upper atmosphere in a few minutes, the heat of re-entry rocking the shuttle as Casen looked around at the men around him in ceremonial combat armour. Finally the shuttle entered the atmosphere and made its way to the facility below.
The shuttle came to a halt in a fairly deserted part of the planet, a giant ornamented plaza that covered the area of a large city, inhabited by nothing but multiple parallel lines of small statues, several floating cylinders with an unknown function that prodded the ground with an articulated appendage, and bloodless globs of flesh strewn about in random locations. The statues were mostly of human figures, animals and combinations thereof, some of them incomplete or mutilated, some parts simply floating in place. Several seemed too real to be statues, too immobile to be animals.
Pink clouds floated calmly against the unusually dark blue afternoon sky of the planet, doing so in organized lines.
In the middle of a circular grassy expanse, a woman wearing black and crimson robes, as well as multiple long collars, stood silently. Around her were four disturbing creatures, human-like bodies with cybernetic limbs that missed all the bones and most of the muscle, sustained by a robotic framework and looking like they had been turned inside-out, human and unknown organs openly visible on their bodies. The strange creatures also wore the same robes and jewellery, their heads replaced by rectangular bony plates with a single triangular hole.
The shuttle came down to rest at one end of the Plaza, its ramp came down to reveal Casen in his bright blue captain uniform, the men behind him wore normal Union combat armour and carrier plasma auto rifles across their chests, they fanned out into two lines each facing each other in front of the shuttle door as Casen walked down the centre towards the strange looking people.
He was slightly off put by their appearance though he wasn’t afraid. He had seen far worse... he instantly dismissed the thoughts of the Draken war from his mind and saluted by banging his fist on his chest.
"Greetings I am Casen of the Union, to whom may I be speaking?" He said with a smile not devoid of professionalism.
"Greetings, most honoured guest." The woman said in a softer voice but in the exact same enunciation as the transmission from the ships. "My name is Zrz.”
She was a relatively tall yet normal-looking human woman, slender and with freckles all over her face. A single lock of hair fell over her face, the rest of her hair was curly and combed backwards. She bowed softly. "I have blissfully received from my holiest benefactors the infinitely honourable task of being your guide in the name of our civilization."
"I am honoured to meet you, and very honoured for you to let us see your grounds as well as talk with us, I wish for good relations between us." Casen bowed. He was a little uneasy but happy they were good enough to listen to him. "If there is a place where you wish us to discuss matters please lead the way, if it’s alright with you I will have 2 guards accompany me. Merely as a precaution, of course."
Upon saying that, the grotesque creatures quickly brought their own weaponry to bear in the blink of an eye: long laser rifles stored in their robes and covered in bile. Zrs however made them stand down, raising her hand with a gentle smile. Her demiorganic bodyguards assimilated the weaponry back into plastic-metallic bulges in their biomechanical bodies.
"Come with me, I can show you around, all of your guards and all of your weaponry are welcome, trust is an important virtue to our functioning."
"Thank you, I have to admit I’m not used to this sort of... architecture, but it’s very impressive." Casen smiled as they started walking, looking around.
"Like the architecture of our forefathers, it reflects our systems of values" She walked ahead, stepping over the grass as she made her way between the amorphous, contorted statues. "Of which I am but a humble servant. As are all humans on this world and many others... like my brothers and sisters, vowels are not allowed in my name, because I myself am just a symbol in the holiest of holy books. You see, we live much differently than you in here..."
"I can see that very clearly." Casen said merely surprised, he couldn’t understand religious notions at all, though just because he had found his truth didn’t mean they hadn’t found theirs... "So…" He said "May I ask are your people’s origins?"
"In our curious yesterday we had the superstition –as your civilization does now- that between every morning and every twilight, facts occured that were a shame to ignore. Our planet was populated by collective spectres... the Swiss Congo, the Silent Weapons Comittee, the stock market and the internet. Almost nobody knew the history of these platonic entities, but everyone knew the most infinitesimal trivialities about their congresses and relations.”
She softly caressed one of the statues with the tip of her fingers.
“Everything was read for the sake of oblivion” Zrz continued. “because it only took a few hours for new trivialities to erase memories of the old. Of all the functions, that of the politician was doubtlessly the most public. An ambassador, minister or CEO was a sort of cripple that required to be transported in large and noisy vehicles, surrounded by bikers and grenadiers.
Images and letters were more real than things. Only what was published was true. Esse est percipi was the beggining, the middle and the end of our curious concept of the world. People were naive, they believed that merchandise was good because so said its fabricator. Robbery was frequent, though nobody ignored that the posession of money gave no happiness or tranquility."
Her bodyguards accompanied silently, except for the somewhat disgusting sound of their gurgling breathing.
"On that day a great milieu of turning minds slowly shudders to life.” She mentioned, walking away from the statue. “The sun shone where it didn't before. Paradigms began to shift - imperceptibly at first, but then all at once skyscrapers and nations receded back into the earth, their occupants pouring into the streets like water and then flowing into nearby pubs and revival houses. Somewhere, in a city, our greatest minds gave birth to an artificial intelligence with an unique mutation - the gift of sentience. AIs soon vied with mankind for control of the plateau of dominance..."
Change arrived with the Evensong War. The deathless one-day war that ended all wars. Flags began to roll up and descend their poles. The night was filled with the sound of pounding drums and the light of millions of candles on the streets. Flowers bloomed from wreckage as a new species rose from the pits of the decadence of mankind. The Son of Man came dancing in, the door flung wide open by our frenzied, booted rutting."
“What happened with the governments and politicians you mentioned?” Casen asked, a bit confused and wishing she’d explain a bit more slowly. She seemed to talk as if he already knew the events, not bothering to explain in deeper detail. It was as if, for her, knowledge of what she was explaining was genetic.
“Tradition says they gradually fell into disuse. They called for elections, declared wars, imposed taxes, confiscated riches, signed arrest warrants and pretended to impose censorship but nobody in the planet obeyed them. The media stopped publishing their collaborations and their effigies. Politicians had to find honest jobs; some became good comedians or good witch-doctors. Reality was no doubt more complex than my humbly short version.”
Casen raised an eyebrow. This was all rather strange to him, then again the Union had its fair share of weird and wonderful species as well as allies, The Skia and Tenebrae being some of the weirdest though no less honourable.
"Seems like a massive occasion, sounds like the moment of ascendancy for your people, unification is a great thing. When our Emperor Myric united the peoples of the Union he did so to create a better tomorrow, He got rid of notions of decadence and greed, as well as difference and inequality. Those in the Union are equal, and we all now live towards the same goal. Peace and unification. This is what we seek with all nations, including yours." Casen said remembering with a heavy air of reverence the time he had stood on Forona alongside the Emperors troops forging a new way of life.
"We have long given up on the pretences to ascension; that were most certainly admirable." She looked around to the landscape. A few small aircraft silently floated in the distance. It made Casen notice how thorough the silence was, it was a hollowing, wicked silence. "We could never escape from a here and a now. This is not to say we have given up on change. For instance we are no longer born; we no longer build cities or have leaders. We are created artificially, fully endowed of purpose and brilliance, we learn, we serve and then we choose to die. Nobody is excluded; I myself, too, will one day face oblivion, with my heart full of gratitude to our divine benefactors for giving me life and then death."
Casen flinched. He didn’t say anything, any personal conflict could jeopardise the relations between these two empires. However he was not happy with that sentence... Any being controlled by another was inherently wrong in the Unions eyes, however it wasn’t in the Unions interests to step into others empire affairs, only when one party asked for help and was being repressed, These... Humans or whatever they were seemed to be happy with their methods and for now that was good enough.
"So what is your purpose here? Did you find this galaxy or did your people come here for exploration?" Casen asked.
"Our purpose is spreading our way of life, expanding and creating something beyond ourselves..." She made her way across an extremely shallow, flat creek that hardly reached up to her bare ankles, along which many lotii floated down. "We are just the Ancerious missionaries, willing to develop all the poor lost souls of this galaxy."
Casen again wondered "Does this mean you are trying to convert all those in this galaxy? Or only those who wish to be converted?" Casen asked; he knew this question was going to be the big one.
"That depends more on the others than it does on us." She said with a smile, crouching down on the creek and gently taking one of the flowers in her hands. "In a long enough time, everyone will be fit to accept our way. Our principles are self-defending."
"Does this mean you will seek to convert the Union?" Casen asked, he was now growing uneasy if these people wanted to convert the Union it would only lead to one sad factor... war.
The Union bowed to no other race or religion, they respected those who did have a religion but would never bow, especially if forced. Many had tried before... and each time much blood was spilled. Casen closed his eyes and let out a breath of stress.
"Your 'Union' does seem to be a near perfect reflection of an order that is in peril of collapsing. True to say it craves to collapse. Any symmetry with appearance of order seems to mesmerize your citizens. How can you not submit to the Syntagma, the elaborate and vast evidence of an ordered intellect?" She came out on the other side of the creek which traversed the plaza in a geometrical fractal pattern. "If you allow me to say so with all due respect, my dearest guest."
Casen sighed "I suppose there is no way in your sight that we can coexist together? We do not bow to another, no matter what. We have found our truth in the Universe. We do not seek to try to be subverted by another" Casen said trying to change their minds.
"Our beliefs are not a matter of universal truth. We believe nobody can achieve such and that the idea shows signs of a lack of evolution." She said, one of the aircraft flying wide circles around them at high altitude. "But nevertheless the Syntagma is as wise as it is benevolent, and consider violence a most crass and counterproductive form of proselytism. As such you can rest easy, very little blood has been shed in the name of our religion."
"Then is it possible for us to co-exist? The Union would happily live alongside your masters in peace; we seek no war or fighting. Only that peace reigns" Casen said, he was hoping they would see the benefit in peace rather than war.
"Of course. Besides, conversion to the Syntagma is not a matter of simple imposition." Zrz kept guiding them through the gardens. "It's not just a religion for men but also a religion for mountains, rivers, biospheres, asteroids and nebula as you can see by the extremely organized nature of our worlds. To simply and blindly convert the masses does not fit within our canon. Eons ago you were prepared, eons to come maybe you or others will be too."
"Well it is of great delight that I say I am glad that we could avoid confrontation. And I must apologise for us being 'unfit' as you would say. However, I must ask what stance would you be willing to take towards us? If you would like us to leave you alone and remain neutral that can be arranged however I feel a non-aggression pact would be of mutual benefit to us both" Casen said with a bow, smiling. Thank the Emperor that was avoided...
"As I said before, political matters concern us not. We are above all humans, we live our lives in full expression of what that means; metaphysical matters and treaties are not within our jurisdictions but rather those of our demiorganic and most highly revered axiomatic AI benefactors." She mentioned, turning towards Casen with a natural look. "Although the fact that you mentioned your own people are in a war might explain your interest for treaties."
"I’m afraid it does” Casen sighed “Though we are usually like this out of war, as we seek peace above all things. This was has merely intensified it.
We are fighting to stop oppression and the conquest of an evil empire. The Immortal Empire, they attacked one of our allies out of nowhere and without provocation, they killed innocent men women and children and scorched everything their armies trampled upon. That was when our people decided months later to help our allies after careful consideration. Now we are fighting alongside them to preserve peace and stop the chaos"
"If your own troops are willing to die over a piece of paper and the abstract notion of a distant, external suffering perhaps they crave death above all things." She said with an analytic look to her of cold, intellectual curiosity. "May I ask you about this Immortal Empire you speak of? Are they that different from your Union, commander?"
"Our troops accept the risk of dying in honour of our brotherhood with a fellow empire, they have done the same for us in the past.” Casen corrected with an air of authority, annoyed at the jab against his brothers in arms, which was enough for Zrz’s demiorganic bodyguards to tense up, a tension that was reflected in Casen’s own honor guard. “As for the Immortal Empire, they believe in oppression of all they find, they conquer other nations and subdue them by military means. While we try to negotiate and live alongside those of other nature the Immortal Empire merely shoot first and ask questions later. The Union and the Immortal Empire are very different from each other"