Alsinan Defense League (ADL)

Namek

A highly decorated fleet just entered the Scretia System, consisting of 3 medium-sized ships, with gorgeous purple dragons painted along its side. From that, it was clear that it came from The Hanshe Empire. Alongside it, smaller vessels escorted it through the System, going in the direction of Cunicule. Judging from the highly decorated ships, one can guess they are not here for war, but possibly peace.

A video transmission was sent by the one leading this mission of negotiations, however, her tone was rather neutral. It was sent to the megacorporation Fusion of Cunicule, as they did their research in advance, and knew vaguely the situation at hand.

// Transmission Start //

"Greetings leaders of the Fusion of Cunicule corporations," The woman said, in a clear voice. She stood in a high podium of sorts, overseeing the command bridge that steered the vessel. She wore large cloth with colorful patterns of dragons sewed in, and a golden headpiece keeping her hair in a knot.

"I am here to represent The Hanshe Empire, I specifically came from the Tetania System to negotiate a possible pact between our nations.

I request an appointment with your leaders, or those fit to negotiate the subject at hand of this caliber. While the appointment is scheduled, I hope to gain permission to traverse the planet as I see fit, while most of this fleet will stay at the outer rings of the planet.

I hope this is acceptable?" This woman spoke with confidence, with a hint of respect in her tone and way of words. She acknowledged the power they had within the nation but wished to see more of it with her own eyes while the appointment is being scheduled.

Andromeda

Namek

Yet more troublesome outsiders. At least these showed adequate respect. Anti-orbital batteries readied their fire, though not keeping their fingers on the trigger per say, and kept their barrels pointed. A short transmission is sent, short and curt, but the one thing apparent to these newcomers- their interlocutors would not be human.

// TRANSMISSION START - HANSHE EMPIRE//

We appreciate the honesty in your mission. As this station is owned in part by Fusion of Cunicule, do choose to dock here.

The voice, it's...odd. A mix of strange clicking noises and deep words, they had a very...creepy sound to them. Fluent in the galactic standard language for sure, but extremely off-putting to an unsuspecting listener.

A map plotting the course to the station is sent to the Hanshe ships, taking the liberty to draw them around the docks currently constructing a new fleet of Andolores-Class Destroyers, which haven't even been put on the books yet. A massive bustle is all about the system as fleets of merchant mariners come and go from various other nations, primarily the UEG and GBE. The battle damage on some of the Bastonian ships is...disconcerting.

Please, dock at your earliest convenience. We will get a representative from the company up here soon enough. Do not be alarmed at our appearances. We will have several of our smaller ships escort you.

//TRANSMISSION END//

Shortly after the transmission cuts, a few of the smaller ships loitering about the system, on low-burn mode, a mix of competency trials and generic training exercises, break off of their current activities and approach the Hanshe fleet and begin directing them on the path they were sent.

Namek

Andromeda

As they received the message, the woman was pleased. She sends a simple message back, with no voice attached. It said she agreed to their instructions, and only her medium-sized vessel shall approach, the rest of her fleet shall stay back, as a sign of respect. The message also held information on who was aboard, and what the vessel is capable of, just to keep them informed and not throw in any unwanted surprises.

The most prevalent figure aboard was the woman in charge. She went by the name Lizara, and was the highest in rank when it concerns diplomatic affairs. She makes important decisions when it comes to trading limits, military aid, travel restrictions, and most likely much more, she isn't just a regular diplomat to their surprise. Maybe this is why it wasn't a 1 ship mission

Aiding her in this mission is a commander that goes by the name of Loran. He takes care of the fleet and possible attacks that could take place in their travels towards their destination, and takes care of strategic combat decisions.

There are an additional 200 crewmembers aboard as well, but those will stay behind in the ship, aside from a few guards if permitted.

The ship itself is not fitted with too much weaponry, what it does have are powerful shields, a warp drive, and strong thrusters which makes the ship very agile.

As they are guided by the smaller ships, the commander aboard notices batteries pointing at their ships, and the show of force that are the Andolores-Class Destroyers. "Lady Lizara, are you still sure to continue with this mission? I'm aware you gave me an order to drop this subject, but I still advise you to send one of your many Diplomats who serve under you.*

Lizara glares at the Commander, as she put on her blue gloves. "I will be preparing for my departure, I'm very aware of the risks at hand, but those are present all around the Galaxy. And I would rather meet nations face to face than sit back at the Empire and do it through a screen."

The vessel kept the path it was given and prepares to dock as Lizara stood ready at the docking station of the Vessel. Alongside her were 2 assistants, carrying large cases, and 8 guards in white uniforms with golden accents.

Lizara herself had white paint on her face, with patterns of a dragon. The rest of her crew had the same, but smaller.

Darkstar

The small automated freighter This End Up (Hull code J-18174949hduei739393) exists slipspace on the mere edges of Alsinan controlled space. The ships main computer sends a plethora of communications data packets towards the appropriate dock master so it can drop off its cargo before picking up the next load destined for the UEG.

The ships limited chemical rockets fire in bursts as it moves forward on its current course.

Once the ship arrives, the two pods will detach from the cargo container nestled between them and then maneuver towards the next prepped container.

Andromeda

Darkstar

"Another UEG ship inbound. 20th one today. Time...about 36:40." a station operator mumbles to himself, jotting down notes on this incoming cargo. Time in Alsinan space is measured in 40 hour increments, as that is a day on Cunicule.

Soon, the hangar crew go through their standard operating procedure. Depressurize, open, attach cables, pull up, close, re-pressurize. Of course unloading cargo from the blocky and well-built UEG convoy ships is not quite so simple, but the modularity of their upper halves make cargo removal a cinch compared to the overly angular GBE ships, which sometimes struggled to fit within the Alsinan hangars. Giant cranes descended from the roof, and removing crates upon crates of cargo into the deeper holds of the station itself through their equally massive conveyor systems which then move the crates into a central hold, which is then taken to any number of points on Cunicule's surface or the planets which the ADL has claimed.

Yet another boring day it seems.

Andromeda

Namek

Onboard the station, the Hanshe vessel is brought in for mooring and docking, which is a complicated procedure. First, the entire hangar is evacuated of all living personnel, the scurrying sounds of the Alsinans moving being disconcerting to even the toughest foreigners for the first time. Second, the entire hangar is depressurized, and a door begins to slowly open into the void of space, a bit too large for the Hanshe vessel to fill up in its entirety. A drone then falls from the ceiling and attaches cables made of Ytrite, a new material the Alsinans discovered on their colony world of Curos, attaching to mooring points on the Hanshe vessel, some intended, some not. After a short while, the drone then returns to its charging point, and now moored vessel is pulled up into the hangar, and the door it entered through is closed behind. With great haste the hangar is re-pressurized, a bit under the Alsinan standard given their company. Finally, the workers return to their hangar, now with the Hanshe vessel docked.

"Greetings!" is heard over the intercoms of the new vessel. "If your ship is in any need of repair, refueling, or rearming, we'll take care of that." Apparently the source of this message is a FoC representative, though not a diplomat. "We'll give you a discount as you are here on a diplomatic mission, about 50% of the cost will be cut."

Back on the planet, Cunicule has become accustomed to outsiders constantly appearing in their space and on their planet, so it's not made much of a fuss over, not that there's anything to worry about. These outsiders have been friendly so far. Hopefully they'll be good business partners if talks get that far.

Having been sent up to the current FoC station is a diplomat, one Jreka Fiza. A giant among his people, easily standing 6 foot from head to the bottom of his many legs, it's hoped that he won't cause too much fear in the Hanshe diplomatic team. The plan for negotiations is to conduct all of the pleasantries up here, then bring the Hanshe down to the planet, of course to only the finest cities embedded in the mountains Cunicule has to offer and not the numerous slums and collapsing quarry cities, then work from there. Hopefully, these newcomers will have some cash to burn, and order a few ships from the hulking manufacturing facilities in orbit, and moreso from Fusion of Cunicule themselves. Only time will tell, however.

Namek

Andromeda

Lizara patiently waited at the docking station, impressed, and intrigued by this procedure. It was handled with care in her eyes, with evident safety procedures. After the process was finalized, a long walkway extended from her vessel, accompanied by 2 red lights pointing at the ground where it will land. Afterward, the doors from her vessel opened, revealing Lizara and those who accompany her.

She slowly descended from her ship on the walkway, directly behind her are 2 guards carrying large staffs. Behind those are the 2 assistants with the briefcases, and afterward the 4 remaining guards carrying those same staff with a dragon banner attached.

As she finally set foot at the station, she looked around with a satisfied smile. Eventually, she noticed Jreka Fiza. She knew of him, thanks to the research she did beforehand. She approached him at a quick pace, even her guards and assistants had slight trouble keeping up with her.

"Jreka Fiza!" She exclaimed, she tried her best to pronounce their name correctly, but it was most likely that she was far off. "What an utmost pleasure to finally meet you."

"As you may notice by our... banners, and our transmission, the name is Lazara, a diplomat from the Hanshe Empire. What is your tradition when meeting new individuals here? Shake hands?" Her tone and body language were rather casual, it seemed she grew tired from the usual conversation protocols. But judging from the banners, even she couldn't escape from all the rules the Hanshe Empire bestowed upon her.

Darkstar

Andromeda The two previously connected pods move on to the next container to bring back to UEG space.

After receiving the proper response, the automated pods latch, and then use their limited thrusters to move towards a safe spot away from the ADL infrastructure to engage its small slipspace drive.

Meanwhile, cargo container that had been previously delivered is loaded with Butan Melons. A juice filled melon with a golden mango like centre. These are hopefully destined for civilian markets where they can be thoroughly enjoyed.

The container they reside in, has a reinforced titanium outer skin, to stop anything reasonable including the vacuum of space from damaging its precious cargo.

Andromeda

Darkstar

With the unloading of the melons into the massive industrial hangars of the Alsinans, the line freezes once the other, less important goods are passed through. These melons are widely popular as an import good from the UEG, especially on off-world colonies because they can serve both as nutrition and as hydration in an efficient package. Bonus points for tasting delicious. One of the lower-tier members of the bureaucracy steps out of an elevator from below, shouting something in the Alsinan's home language to some poor worker until they come to the unloading point from the UEG vessel.

"The hell are you idiots doin'? You gotta fuckin' check the connection to the crate!" he says, with much native vulgarity.

More shouting about some random arcane safety procedures many years out of date continues, simply because of one loose cable...

Andromeda

Namek

"Pleased to meet you, miss!" the arachnid would reply, keeping a solid distance from the Hanshe entourage. "Though my people aren't exactly the most contact-oriented, I'd love for you and your party to come with me. We've much to discuss, no? Also, for further reference, just pronounce my name as if it were in the galactic standard. Doing it in the accent is...quite unpleasant."

He would then step aside out of the way of the catwalk. Fiza was by no means an unknown name - as a primary representative of Fusion of Cunicule he had his face in quite a lot of marketing, even abroad to those who bought their reactors. Oddly the FoC reactors worked exceptionally well...for about 5 years, then they broke down and required a specialized technician or a team of such to fix them.

Fiza would then lead the Hanshe delegation through the station, not exactly taking the shortest path to show a lot of the operations of this otherwise standard station.

"Now, as I am aware, you wish to be brought down to Cunicule itself, yes? Our atmosphere, while a good bit heavier than that of your home planets, should be livable for a short period of time. By all means, we won't be descending too much into the planet's thickest parts of the atmosphere however. Hrm...here should do." he points to a massive metropolis located right alongside, and seemingly following, the mountain range, the largest one on the planet in fact. "Well, we have a shuttle waiting, shall we go?"

Namek

Andromeda

Lizara lowered her head, as she spoke in a soft tone. "My sincere apologies, hopefully, I didn't offend you with the pronunciation of your name.

It would be lovely to discuss our matters, it will greatly benefit both our factions." She smiled, as she began to follow Fiza, walking by his side as the Hanshe entourage followed both of them at a respectable distance.

As they walked throughout the station, practically giving them a tour, Lizara found it to be very pleasant. "I must say, I have heard plenty about you Fiza. I am very impressed by your work, and the smooth inner workings of this station.

I would love to look at some of the ships and reactors after my official matters are finished here, perhaps set up a trading deal."

As they approached the shuttle, Lizara nodded as they brought up Cunicule. "You are indeed correct, visiting the planet is a crucial procedure when molding new alliances. We are aware of the atmosphere, if it were to get too intense, we have special filters in the cases we are bringing along."

Lizara found Fiza to be a pleasant individual, it isn't often that she is this optimistic when meeting other diplomats. "Let us descend on the planet indeed."

Andromeda

Namek

"Good to hear, ma'am. Just step on the shuttle and we'll be on the surface in...give it about an hour." the Alsinan diplomat would say, finally happy to return to his home city.

After leading the Hanshe team onto the Alsinan shuttle, they began their descent into Cunicule's atmosphere, and the first striking aspect about the planet is the color of its flora. Instead of the green common elsewhere, it was a vibrant yellow by the norm, with the blooming treetops a brilliant pink or purple. The insectoid avian life and even the large reptilian avians were everywhere around this city during this part of the year, and they made for a beautiful sight. The city itself was a massive gash carved into the side of the mountain, its lighting shining a fluorescent blue which made the mountain seem as if it were glowing. Yellow-leaved trees dominated the approach up the mountainside and slowly dwindled as the altitude increased. It was an utterly alien sight equivalent in beauty and its strange appearance.

Cunicule's atmosphere, despite being the industrial power plant of the Alsinan Defense League, was exceptionally clean compared to their other planets, which almost had excessive smog on purpose to trap heat.

When the shuttle landed, it was immediately swarmed by the press rushing to get the first look at the Hanshe envoys, these strange outsiders whom they had never seen before. Security backed them away as Fiza exited the shuttle with Lazara and her entourage following behind.

"Well, the negotiations aren't set to start for a good while now, so do get accustomed to the city. It's an expensive place to live no doubt, but the view is gorgeous and you almost can't get a better look at wildlife than here." Fiza would say, breathing in the fresh air for the first time in more than a few weeks. "Ahhh...I missed this place."