[01M] The Minerva System

The Minerva System is the pride of the Valhallan Republic- home to it's first, and by far most successful extrasolar colony. In it's center, lies a hot, young sun, not unlike the terran sun. It is home to only two true planets. The first, Valt, is, to be frank, uninteresting. It's a searing hot rock, with little of value. There are few scientific satellites, but otherwise it is mostly ignored. Second, is Iskev, a gas giant. More importantly, is it's primary moon Helenus. Relatively large for a moon, Helenus is home to the Valhallan's first extrasolar colony. It's about two-thirds the size of earth, but it's core is denser, so while gravity on the planet is lessened, it is by no means uncomfortable. A temperate world that hit the "sweet spot" for carbon-based life, Helenus has a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere maintained by abundant indigenous photosynthetic plants and bacteria.

The colony itself is fairly impressive. Consisting of a single large, octoganal city with tramways connecting it to smaller settlements further off, the colony is actually visible from orbit. Many of the colonists wear breathers, given that Valhallan lungs are adapted to low-oxygen enviorments and, in high-oxygen enviroments, require some sort of filtration system to avoid hyperventilation, among other health effects. The colony is protected by several ground-based ORION batteries- essentially the same weapons used on Valhallan cruisers.

Already in orbit lies three cruisers, in addition to a single corvette. One of the cruisers has suffered heavy damage- it was nearly destroyed fighting the Alarei ship that attacked the colony. Currently, the corvette, along with several shuttles from the surface of Helenus, is docked with the damaged cruiser, and repairs are underway.

There's a brief burst of violet and crimson energy as a massive ship exits jumpspace. It's the VSV Siege, the flagship of the Valhallan navy.


The High Executor sighed, looking to his hands, his gloves removed, sitting on the desk next to him. He simply couldn't keep them still. This was unusual- during his service, Alexander Nolan had been the best marksman in his legion. He was nothing extra-ordinary, but he was still very skilled. He should be able to still them. He shouldn't let this affect him. Not yet. Not until the Alarei pay for every life they took in triplicate. But.. for all their honour and cultural differences, Valhallans are still human, and the High Executor was still a father. He had just lost a daughter to the Alarei. Niobe. She had died fighting- covering the escape of a civillian shuttle. If she hadn't given her life, they would have died. It was a hero's death. That brought him some small measure of relief- but it didn't bring her back. The colony had been turned to ash- he couldn't even bury her.

A holographic depiction of an exclamation mark appeared above his desk, blinking on and off. "You have a transmission awaiting you, sir." A computerized voice spoke- MIRA, the ship's artificial intelligence. He reached forward, 'clicking' the holographic icon. It vanishes, soon replaced by the head of his son, Marcus. The High Executor's son looked a great deal like the man, except with his mother's blue eyes and hair. His facial tattoos resembled an open hand, reaching out. He had taken after Persphone, his mother, whereas Niobe had taken after Alexander himself. Marcus was brilliant- like his mother. He was an engineer- head of a research team at the Valerian academy. Alexander had hoped Marcus would have joined the military like his sister, but he was never much of a soldier. The hologram looked to Alexander, frowning.

"..Hey, father."

"Hey."

"How are you holding up?"

Alexander sighed, looking away. "Not well."

The Hologram nodded softly, looking down for a moment.

Alexander looked up, gulping just a tad. "You know, even if I never expressed it- I.." He sighs. "I'm proud of you. Your mother would be proud."

"I know, dad. I know."

The High Executor sighed. "I.. I have to go."

"I understand, dad. Make those bastards pay."

The hologram vanished. Nolan sighed, nodding softly. "I will. I swear by the lost- I will."

The Valhallan Dreadnought Siege transmits a message to the VASF vessels in Arabic, which had apparently become the de-facto trade language of the pact. The voice is female, though clearly synthetic, and, strangely enough, fairly youthful-sounding.

<:: Yes, we did. We have received confirmation from the Caliphate that they will be attending- they should arrive soon. Once they arrive, an interdiction field will be activated to prevent unauthorized access to the system.

There's a detectable increase in power usage on the aft of the VSV Siege- the interdiction field was just raised, more or less preventing unauthorized access to the system. The Siege then broadcasts to the other two vessels.

<:: ..I'm High Executor Alexander Nolan, and this vessel is the VSV Siege. I, and Captain Elisa Roberts, will acting as our delegates.

// Sorry for the short post, I'm busy as all hell.

A docking bay on the massive ship's lower half opens up, surrounded by blinking lights. It's fairly obvious that this is the intended destination for the diplomats.

<:: Affirmative. Please proceed to docking bay six.

The voice is no longer High Executor Nolan's- the voice is synthesized, and fairly feminine-sounding. Likely an AI. The transmission is accompanied by a holographic image of the Siege, with docking bay six highlighted.

Normally, the Voehn-Ahl and the baseline humans of the Caliphate would have difficulties breathing on a Valhallan ship, given the unique atmospheric composition the Valhallans have adapted to. However, this particular hangar's air composition is the Terran standard; in this case, the Valhallans would have a hard time breathing. However, all of the personnel nearby, including High Executor Nolan, are equipped with rebreather masks, allowing them ease of breathing. The masks appear to have been designed specifically to avoid any social disruption- they display as much of the mouth as possible.

High Executor Nolan stands near the entrance to the hangar bay, his arms folded in a contemplative posture, his long, black, apparently leather coat billowing from the displaced air produced as a result of the Caliphate shuttle's arrival. He is flanked by four Valhallan Marines; one familiar with Valhallan culture would be able to identify them as members of the Talon Legion- the best of the best- by the ornate war paint spattered across their armor.

High Executor brings his hand to his earpiece, pressing a button on it, transmitting audio in Arabic directly to the Caliphate shuttle.

"Welcome to The VSV Siege, Caliph Abd Al Bari al-Hussaini. Shala Zhufu."

High Executor Nolan returns the bow, walking towards the Caliph. He glanced to the soldiers in outdated uniforms, briefly lifting an eyebrow. He holds a hand out to the Caliph, clearly expecting the man to shake his hand. Were he to accept the shake, he would find that the Executor's grip is surprisingly strong, even for a soldier. In fact, it feels oddly rigid.

"I expect the Voehn-Ahl representatives will arrive shortly. We have much to discuss."

The High Executor silently stood, waiting as the ambassadors arrived. Of all the nations and alliances and races the VSC had encountered, they were by far the most.. alien. All of the others could be summarized easily. The Kal'Bavakorans were a race of imperialist squid-people without the strength to defend either their borders or prevent civil war. The Hakoni were small, unimpressive turtle-men. The People were an boring, uninteresting lot who all dressed the same and foolishly worshiped their leader. The Kisari were a genderless, amphibian people who excelled at poverty. The Alarei were angry, big-headed creatures out for revenge. But the VASF? They could not be summed up so easily. Even their ships looked bizarre.

The High Executor raised an eyebrow ever-so-slightly as the VASF ambassadors exited their.. shuttles. The Voehn. They reminded him of Zhenshai- large, insectoid creatures native to Hel. Waiting for the sphere to finish translating, he nodded softly, turning towards the exit of the shuttle bay.

"Please, follow me. We have much to discuss." He pauses. "Try to avoid straying off the path we take you. If you do, the containment field will tingle a bit, which isn't a problem- but you'll choke to death on the air."

The High Executor silently leads them through large, metallic hallways. The design is utilitarian; much like most vessels of human design. If it weren't for the telltale orange stripe running across the walls, one might have mistaken it for the interior of a Terran vessel. Sometimes they pass a few workers, either outfitted in armour or equipped with breathing apparati similar to Nolan's. Occasionally, at intersections, one can see a transparent blue 'wall' blocking entrance to the other corridors- these are the containment fields High Executor Nolan spoke of. Eventually, they come upon their destination. Judging by the time it took them to reach it, they are somewhere near the center of the ship.

Motioning to the entrance of the Conference Room, the High Executor grasps his hands together before him, waiting for the others to enter. After they enter, his earpiece bleeps repeatedly. Checking to ensure that all of the delegates had entered the conference room, he presses a button on the side of it. He sighs, apparently listening to someone speak.

"I'll inform them, then." He presses the button again, apparently closing the channel.

The Conference is rather impressive- by human standards, at least. It's fairly large- more than enough to fit all of the representitives. In it's center lies a large, unassuming triangular metal table, it's points flattened, but the soft orange glow above it gives away the fact that it doubles as a holo-projector. The walls double as bookshelves, and are lined with a strangely-textured, reddish brownish wood. It's a surprisingly cozy room, given it's purpose.

The only person in the room is a Valhallan; one Captain Elisa Roberts. She runs a hand through her stark, raven-hued hair, streaked with grey, before grasping her hands behind her back, looking to the delegates. "Shall we begin?"

Roberts nodded gently, glancing to the doorway as the remaining delagates enter, along with the High Executor. Following a quick nod from him, she walks over to what appears to be designated the Valhallan 'side' of the triangular holo-table (it's been painted with their emblem- the Voehn-Ahl and Caliphate sides are marked with their respective symbols). She quickly types a few commands into a keyboard on the holo-table.

"Several hours ago, as far as we can tell- nearly every human world in known space was attacked. We lost.. more ground than we should have." She sighs, rubbing her eyes a little bit, before returning her gaze to the delegates. "A transmission from the USC confirmed what our databases had already lead us to believe. These are the Alarei."

She pauses for a moment, watching as a 3D image of the Alarei dreadnought corpse in the Valhalla system flickers into view.

High Executor Nolan nodded as he walked into the conference room, taking his place next to Captain Roberts.

"We were not so lucky. In our hubris, we spread ourselves too thin, believing ourselves strong enough to defeat any threat. We lost.. too many. Three Colonies, turned to ash. I lost a daughter."

He presses a few keys on the nearby keyboard. The image of the wreckage vanishes, swiftly replaced by a star-map, with the Artemis Tau system highlighted.

"Several minutes ago, we received a high-priority message from the USC. They're requesting our presence at a summit in the Artemis Tau 7 system. With your approval, we will alert your vessels and we can get underway."

High Executor Nolan nodded, turning himself a bit, pressing a gloved hand to his earpiece.

"Transmit the FTL data to the VASF and Caliphate fleets, and we can get underway."

Almost instantaneously, coordinates for the USC's summit are transmitted to both fleets, along with limited data on the workings of the Siege's FTL drive. It's actually little more than energy outputs and the such. Whoever transmitted the information was very careful not transmit any more than was necessary. For good reason- the FTL drives aboard Valhallan ships are very closely tied to their weapons systems- specifically the spinal-mounted ORION battery.

High Executor pauses for a moment, before receiving confirmation. He looks to the VASF delegates, waiting for an affirmative response. After they respond, he presses his hand into his earpiece and speaks again.

"Let's get moving."

Jumping to FTL, the Siege, along with a few other Valhallan and Caliphate ships vanish, leaving behind little more than a brief burst of crimson energy and a trail of light.