Pan'Chek

Silently drifting through the stillness of space, a ship approaches Aschen space. Inside of the ship, named Discovery VII, to it's closest translation, were six Oberon, a race of humanoids never before seen by anyone here. Nor anywhere else, really. They weren't here to present any treaties, nor attack anything, but just to watch. Only two of the Oberon, both male, were active. The rest were in hyper-sleep, as the journey was long, even with a skip drive. The ship was not very large, but that wasn't much of a problem. They only needed two beds, and while sleeping in 0G was hard, the two Oberon were accustomed to it by now. The trip had only taken about three weeks, incredibly shorter than they used to, thanks to the recently trialed cold-fusion engines. All that they really needed to power it was water, which was easy enough to come by. The Oberon at the helm of the ship, known very simply as Paul Clarke, looked at the planets in front of him. One of them, called I-01.7, being the first inhabited planet they had seen. The other Oberon, Will Kengor, manuevered himself into the cockpit and stared at the sight in front of him. He didn't say anything, and neither did Paul. They continued on, getting closer to I-01.7.

The second Oberon, the one not at the helm of the ship, asks the one known as Paul if he should awaken the rest of the crew, and is met with a nod. He pushes himself out of the cockpit of the ship and down a corridor and through a door marked CRYOCHAMBERS, which held the remainder of the crew, four Oberon of which two were male and two were female. In each of the cylindrical metal and glass chambers lies the Oberon crewmembers, in an induced sleep, similar to that of the hibernation of an animal. Projected onto their foreheads were three green circles, representing to the live crewmembers that their lung, heart, and brain functions were all normal. The Oberon known as Will Kengor flicks his eyes to assure that each of the crew's vitals are functioning, and then his eyes stop on that of the third pod, containing a male known as Henry. His vitals are green, except for the circle in the center, representing brain function, which is yellow. Unfortunately, this means he has become unstable, and must be left in cryosleep for another 12 hours, with adjusted settings to slowly take him out of Cryosleep. The only problem is that he's their language specialist and had been studying the intercepted signals originating from I-01.7 , and also was their emergency ambassador in case they were noticed by the beings from I-01.7. So Will uses a tablet synched with the ships functions to adjust Henry's Cryopod to a slow awakening, and then uses it to open the other Cryopods containing the rest of the crew. They should be awake in 20 minutes. Will sits with his legs wrapped around some railing to the side of the room, and waits. At the helm of the ship, Paul puts on his red uniform, usually worn on departure or out-of-ship, but he feels that if they meet another species today, he should be dressed in the way the Colonial Union had priveleged him with. He interfaces with his BrainPal, a computer-like interface that interacts with his own brain, and asks 'Scott' as he had named it, what the time of arrival into orbit around I-01.7 would be. About an hour and thirteen minutes at the current speed, was the response. So he just watches the planet increasing very slowly in his field of vision, and can't help but admire it.

The system they had happened into, somehow, some way, was bustling with activity, with a proverbial millions of individual starships formed in orderly starlanes that stretched across the vastness of space like a spider's web, providing shimmering tendrils that stretched out among the stars.

One planet, became two, as their orbital paths revealed another verdant, continental world behind the first planet, this second planet was teeming with activity, with hundreds of thousands of starships coming, and going from various points onto the planet.

But, the unidentified vessel was being tracked from the moment it entered the Pan'chek system so danger close to the Langara-Pangar Exclusionary Zone.

A single watchtower crew kept their systems hyper-focused on the alien vessel, an entire team of technicians, and engineers pinging it's arrival on a large holographic interface.



"Command this is Watchtower, I have positive weapons lock on the approaching vessel, request permission to engage, all orbital defenses show green." A Control officer said in a calm voice, while she reached up and manipulated a vast point-and-click interface that was sprawled across a gleaming white control center.


"Command, this is Commander Papadopoulos, of the Adriatic, I'm CBDR to the unidentified vessel, requesting weapons free!" Hailed the Adriatic, a singular Hastati class cruiser, roughly 1.5 kilometers in length, bearing from a far flung region of the star system.

"Acknowledged, Adriatic Actual, this is the Harbinger of Piety, I'll be providing support, while coordinating fire from the Magna Thraecia ODPs, steer clear of flying singularities, we're evacuating the region now!" Admiral Elisha Whitcomb called out over the comms, as she manipulated the interface of her Reverence II, the Harbinger of Piety, flanked on one side by the RII Commitment and Patience, and the Imperious Class Command Carrier Sakala, commanded by Commander Mashad Sidiim, a rugged native of the savannahs of Leonis, hailing from the city of Hedon.

"ETA to contact, one Millicenton." EVE reported from her position near Admiral Whitcomb's station. "Unidentified vessel matches no known designs." The Admiral offered a curt nod, and then turned to her tactical officer.

"Get a Marine strike team in their Condors and prepare for boarding action." Admiral Whitcomb ordered.

"Send hostile challenge, and order them to surrender." The Admiral added, casting a gaze to EVE. The AI Nodded, and began transmitting a simple binary message that could be easily translated into whatever languages these aliens spoke.

"Attention Unidentified Vessel, you are ordered to power down your shields, weapons, engines, and any defensive countermeasures, prepare for boarding action, and immediate seizure. Any resistance will be met with force, you have thirty [SMALL TIME UNITS] to comply, or we will prosecute your vessel with all haste."

The message was transmitted on multiple radio frequencies, and it repeated.

Quietly, the Admiral watched the interface, as her battle group began to close on the singular vessel.

The Discovery VII caught the signal, to slight panic of the helmsman that was quickly suppressed. The translated words washed over the intercom of the ship, then the beckoning of Paul to the other Oberon Astronaut. It was quite obvious they had been detected. They weren't quite sure what to do, but quickly decided on cooperation, as they weren't sure of the level of reception they were recieving, but any untranslated communication from here on out would be defaulted as hostility. Making no attempt to move forward any farther or even to send a response to the senders of the signal, they froze all movement. For the first time, Paul noticed a thin line of metallic-seeming objects, but there was no time to observe now. They wanted to show a specific lack of hostile intent, so they only good choice they could make was absolute cooperation. Paul quickly uses his BrainPal interface to put in a quick log of what had just happened. By now, three of the four crewmates were waking up and slowly beginning to regain their senses.

The Sakala, began it's approach towards the unidentified vessel, flanked on each side by it's escorts, a pair of Triarii class cruisers, the long, dagger shaped vessels flanked the Command Carrier, but one of the Triarii class ships began to accelerate, but not before the Adriatic began to spool it's FTL Drives.

It crossed from point A to point B in an instant, winking across vast distances in one single jump, this allowed the details of the Adriatic to be seen up close, it was sleek, appeared heavily armored, and quite large compared to the Discovery. It was bristling with what appeared to be weapons batteries, and they were all trained on the one lone ship. Unusual alien text, and a large phoenix shield crest were emblazoned on the side of the vessel.

The Commander watched the display closely, as the cruiser maintained it's weapons lock on the much smaller ship. They had come to the lion's den, and the Commander knew this. Two Condor's emerged from a hangar bay on the dorsal side of the cruiser, whipping around, they began their course towards the Discovery, each Condor was filled with a squad of about eight Imperial Marines, and two Adepts of War.

They would make contact in about thirty seconds.

For twenty of those seconds, the Discovery was a quick blur of activity. The second helmsman quickly threw himself through the zero gravity of the ship towards the CRYO room, and as he was doing so, the remaining crew were awakening. That was the first five seconds. In the next three, Paul, the helmsman, took three pictures of the large ship, and one of the crest upon it, which he quickly messaged back to Klendath. It would be an hour until they got it. While he was doing this, Will, the second helmsman, arrived in the CryoPod room. He quickly transmitted a stream of data into each of the crew's formerly dormant members detailing what was happening, which took about four seconds. One of them, different from the others by the fact he had green skin, a mark of the service in the Colonial Union, quickly reacted, getting out of the pod almost immediately. The others weren't as quick, but woke in about another two seconds.

And then they all stopped.
They had no idea what they should do.

The last six seconds was different for Paul, compared to the other crew. He was suppressing panic, and barely managed to do so. He grabbed up a wrench floating through the zero gravity, a heavy thing, and quickly moved to the airlock.

"Alert, I'm detecting signals originating from the vessel, triangulating destination patterns now." EVE reported, this caused Admiral Whitcomb to snarl from her position aboard the Harbinger of Piety.

She turned to her tactical officer, and then towards EVE.

"Jam all signals coming from that vessel, we cannot let them call for help, or compromise our positions here." Whitcomb ordered, as the Signals officers began working the Harbinger of Piety's massive ECW Suite, sending out a barrage of signal noise towards the alien vessel, and broadcasting a wideband EM jamming field that would attempt to inhibit further communications.

"Positive lock." One of the Condor's reported, as it maneuvered into position, extending a large docking seal that was designed to rest against the other ship's airlock, several dozen Marines stacked with weapons prepped and readied inside their troop compartment, with the Adept forming up the front, and charging his heavy Magnetron rifle.

The Condor attached with an audible thunk, that reverberated between both vessels.

Each Aschen Marine had on EVA equipment, consisting of a thin, but durable bodysuit that regulated life support functions, as well as provided an airtight seal, this was worn under the hermetically sealed CUIRASSE Powered exoskeleton, the Adept had their Type 86 power armor, and every one of them were prepped for vacuum.

The Adept began prepping a plasmite cutting torch, igniting the brilliant blue-green flame, he pressed it towards the airlock door to begin cutting through.

Rather unfortunately for the crew of the Discovery, their mental interfaces picked up the signal noise. This briefly incapacitated them as they hurried to shut it off. Their most recent log wasn't going to reach Klendath, Paul realized. The aliens had advanced technology they had trouble even comprehending. The Oberon had never used jamming technology, but they could recognize it when it happened naturally and would simply find a way around it. Unfortunately, it4was quite obvious that this wasn't natural. Paul grips the wrench tighter, then realizes it likely won't do anything against these people. He calls out to the rest of the crew, telling them that they should simply surrender peacefully before they are harmed. At first some of them don't agree, but he convinces them quickly. So they line up in the hallway adjacent to the airlock, and Paul nervously opens the outer door, simply allowing in the aliens. How strange, he thinks. I suppose we are the aliens here.

To say they were surprised was an understatement, as the outer airlock door came undone. The two Adepts in the front paused, they signalled for the Marines to stay behind them as the door unsealed, the two atmospheres of the ships intermingling, and mixing.

The Adept took stock, he didn't know if the other ship could accommodate their sheer size. He made one simple gesture, as two Marines moved in front, and ignited their personal aegis shields, shimmering blue-white hard light barriers that buzzed, and crackled. The Marines moved carefully through the threshold, their sleek disruptor PDW's at the ready, faces obscured by hermetically sealed visors that gave them a sinister look with their black uniforms. They pointed their weapons first at Paul, but there was a language barrier.

Two Marines came in behind the first, but they said nothing as they moved into the ship, transitioning from the artificial gravity of the Condor, to a Zero Gravity environment was fairly seamless, as the Marine's gravitic boots engaged.

"We have positive contact, Humanoid Xenos in appearance." The Marine Sergeant called into his radio, speaking a language that sounded ancient, a close relative of ancient Latin.

"Secure the ship for transport to the Harbinger of Piety." The radio replied. "Secure all valuable data, Intelligence will be on station for interrogation. We'll prep the chair." The Radio chirped. The Marine Sergeant pointed to the Oberon crew, and then pointed to his own rank insignia on his collar, gesturing as if he was asking for the leader.

The Oberon crew displays a sort of muted anxiety at these intruders on their ship, but present no hostile actions. When they entered the inner airlock, Paul reaches over and closes the outer airlock door, and then opens the inner door. Paul knows perfectly what the weapons they hold could be capable of. Hell, he'd seen high-velocity water guns capable of tearing through metal before. At the motion of the marine, seemingly asking for the one in charge, Paul raises his hand and then folds them back behind him. The Oberon are communicating with each other through their BrainPals, commenting and sharing observations about the intruders. One of them takes an audio recording of the statement of the marine. The Adepts are simply referred to as 'the heavy ones,' and present some alarm to the observational tactician, Robert, as to him, they are the heaviest armed and armored soldiers he'd seen, and he wondered what type of being could even carry that. He then supposed that these soldiers must only be used in space, as zero gravity surely helped them.

During this time, the Oberon don't say anything aloud, not sure if that would startle the intruders, as their language was much different from theirs. They instead communicate through their mental interfaces.

Soon, Henry is remembered, and one of the crew makes a move to go get him, before swiftly being stopped. Henry is still in cryosleep, and is unfortunately probably the only person on their crew, maybe even their race, that can communicate with these other beings.

Paul then tries to convey that there is another person on board the ship, gesturing towards the Cryo room, which is only a couple of yards away.

The Marine sergeant paused, and followed the Oberon's gesture to the cryo bay.

The Marine didn't say anything, but EVE had been informing them that the Harbinger if Piety was moving on station to dock with the ship and tow it to another location.

The Marine sergeant didn't say much, as the sounds of something hitting the hull reverberated through the smaller ship, the sound of clunking, and rattling, which echoed through the entire ship.

The thirty kilometer long Harbinger of Piety had just initiated docking procedures, opening a pair of massive armored doors to accommodate the Oberon vessel inside a massive pressurized drydock.

There was a hiss as the bay pressurized, and the slight tug of gravity that was fairly unnoticed by the Marines, and the Adepts as the control crew engaged the Reverence IIs artificial gravity.

The ship jerked, and vibrated until everything fell silent, the sound of a catwalk attaching to the airlock heard last.

The Marine pointed to the airlock, he wanted it open.

The Oberon crew continues to stand as if under inspection, and Paul responds to the intruder's gesture by opening the inner airlock. He noticed the gravity as it pulled him rather suddenly down to the floor, but he couldn't imagine for the life of him why it had happened and preferred not to guess. He would understand in a bit. He motions toward his head and pantomimes putting on a helmet, asking the intruder if he and his crew may do so, as he assumes that they would want them out of the ship. He continues to telecommunicate with his crew, and again begins to feel slight panic that he does his best not to show.

The Oberon crew cooperates with the motions of the Aschen Marine, filing into the airlock with Paul in the lead. They don't show much surprise, the exclusion being Paul, who is shocked at what he sees. They appeared to be in a hangar, but a very large one. The telecommunication of observations through their BrainPals was continuing. Despite the hesitation to leave Henry in the ship, the crew of the Discovery VII continues on and out of the ship. The crewmate known as Robert, their situational Analyst, shares the observation that the heavy ones must be able to operate in gravity after all. Paul is more focused on the fact that there's gravity on this ship. As the crew is escorted out of the ship, they take visual recordings using their BrainPals that they will send to headquarters when they get the chance.

If they get the chance.

The officer on the far side of the massive hangar bay, stood silently. The bay measured easily five kilometers in length, and had a myriad of fighter craft, equipment, and personnel moving about.

The officer, a Lieutenant took a step forward, as the Marine Sergeant led the group towards him, and saluted, bringing his arm across his chest abruptly and shouting.

"Ad Victoriam!" He cried out, and the officer nodded in return. "Ad Victoriam." He then turned his attention to the crew.

"Take them to detention block thirteen, Intelligence will be on station to conduct interrogations soon." The officer ordered, and the Marine nodded, turning back to the group, as several more Marines clenched their weapons tightly and began to close in. It was obvious now that these people were going to take the Oberon prisoner.

The officers eyes fell onto their ship, they'd wait until final disposition of the crew to dispose of the ship.

The Oberon crew stands silently. Paul has an uneasy feeling that he quickly dismisses, but he still tries to get the attention of the two Aschen, the Marine officer and Lieutenant, and he does his best to convey that there is another person on board the ship. He speaks for the first time, the words undoubtedly foreign to the Aschen, that there is someone else on the ship and tries to convey so through hand gestures, but quickly ceases as he realizes the pointlessness of it, and goes back to silently cooperating. They continue to take visual and audio recordings in the hope they can study them later.

The Officer directed the Marines to take the group to interrogation, and then he turned to leave, they would no doubt find the one called Henry when they searched the ship.

It was a long walk under heavy escort, the Marines escorted them one by one through a long tramway that ran the length of the ship, at least a twenty minute ride at relatively high speeds gave the Oberon crew a rough guesstimation on the sheer size of the vessel they were inside.

It was a long ride, but they finally arrived at their destination, the tram slowed to a stop with an audible hiss, and the doors opened up, Paul and his crew were now being led into what was obviously a brig, or a detention block, which was for the most part empty. They were separated, one by one, and shoved into a small eight by five cell.

Paul was the last one, the Marine shoving him forward into his cell, and turning to leave, while a second Marine latched the door behind him, and they all walked away, leaving the captain in a stifling silence.

He was there for about an hour, until the sound of heels on floor echoed through the detention block, the sound of heels stopped, and the door keeping Paul imprisoned slid open, revealing two heavily armed Marines, and a young woman wearing a neatly pressed suit, and white blouse. She also wore a dark pair of sunglasses, and a strange, but sleek looking device that coiled around her right ear, and went inside it.

Slowly she stepped inside, and took the sunglasses off, frowning for a moment, and then looking at Paul almost with a malicious smile, before she slid them into the inside pocket of her blazer.

"Who are you, and where did you come from." She asked, this time, in words he understood.

Paul's anxiety increases as he is divided from his crew, but he continues to communicate with them through his BrainPal.

When the woman enters his cell and speaks to him in a way he understands, he quickly makes a mental log before responding.

"I am Paul, of the Oberon. I come from the galaxy RA-619, star system Glendathu, base of operations Klendath.'

He references his mental interface before continuing with some statements of his own.

"We intend no harm towards your people. Our mission was simply to learn about you and contact you at a later point in time. I can say nothing else."

The woman offered a slight chuckle as the door slammed shut behind her. She offered a wicked grin, that seemed to twist her face to a wicked snarl, like a predatory animal while she produced a small datapad, and keyed in several words into it.

"I'm afraid that's not how this works. Right now, you and your crew are prisoners, and if you value them, you'll cooperate." Connors tapped her chin for a moment.

"So here's how this is going to work, you'll answer my questions satisfactorily, and honestly, you'll provide no resistance, and I will endeavor to make your stay here relatively manageable, and tolerable, and perhaps we can have some meaningful discourse." Connors said as she took a step forward.

"For every denial, every question you refuse to answer, I will have one of your crew executed." She said cooly.

"Do we have an understanding, Paul?" Connors asked plainly.

Paul has a quick moment of panic, and sends his recording of the questioning to the rest of his crew, before responding.

"I will answer your questions. Although, and remember this, nothing I say represents the views of my people, the expeditionary forces, or my people's government. I will answer your questions to the ability that I have in answering them. I understand your terms."

He mentally curses himself, wishing any Oberon but himself had been selected, as any other would have said nothing. He'll just answer what he can, he supposes.

Kathryn moved to Paul's right, her eyes staring daggers at him, she was watching his every move, something seemed off though, and it seemed her intuition was nagging at her for some reason.

She got close, close enough that Paul could feel her breath as she whispered.

"Your people, are nothing." She said, pulling away, and going back to tapping at her tablet. "Your people managed to somehow slip your vessel past our defenses, into our core systems, undetected." Kathryn said as she paced around Paul. "We will dismantle your vessel, and we will learn of it's origins. Tell me about your people, tell me about their military strength, their technology level, the location of your home world."

Paul answers.
"Our people are peaceful. We only maintain military strength in case we need it, mainly under the possibility of alien threat. Our current technology level is... Well, the most recent discovery was cold fission, and that was about three revolutions ago. Our closest colony is in RA-619, star system Glendathu, planet known as Klendath. I believe that you are misinterpreting our approaches. We are simply trying to peacefully contact your people, who are obviously much more advanced than us. I can't fully answer your question about military power, as that is outside of my department. Is this enough?"

He tries to hide his anxiety, and does pretty well.