Ssriskiss (The Hub)

[Swix]

Nrenth sends her acceptance of the agreement after the Utopians cut her off, then lowers her head and rests it against the warm metallic wall the command centre, her scales turning from flecks of red into a much deeper shade that covered her entire body. If it wasn't for arrogant officials like that, who thought everyone should accommodate them with no quarter given, her job would be much easier. The Utopians would find that since this was Neutral territory their officials were no more important than officials of other species, so their assumptions were completely unfounded. Besides all that most other officals sent word of their arrival and requirements before they showed up. Of course there were hotels and that set up inside for the average visitor, but if Ambassadors wanted to go that route it usually meant they wanted to be left alone.

Nrenth kept an eye on her screen until she was sure that everything was normal again, and sent the coordinates for the Utopians to dock. Since the station was spinning in order to allow ships to orbit it whilst everything stayed in the same place (thus allowing those without artificial gravity to maintain theirs) the Utopians were going to have to synchronise their ships orbit before docking, where guards were waiting to give them the full ambassadorial care and show them their living space. The Utopians would find there were many Consortium and non-Consortium races going about their business in the Hub-including very rare glimpses of the Muzvus rebels, or simply those who didn't want to remain under their Empress's rule.

[Zerrer]

"I'm actually not sure where to go." Ashael said. "Do you think you could upload the information to my ship or something?"

[Swix]

"I suppose" Rranntak said thoughtfully, tapping on his touchpad that had once shown the holographic image of Erayna before she left "... if your method of accepting data is compatible, I could send you the signal to broadcast to show you are friendly and auto-request a docking bay... though getting there shouldn't be a problem"

Since the E-Maginians shoulders were fused to his shell, the ability to shrug was gone, but his antennae twitched a little to compensate "there's a massive blue portal in your space that would easily be able to accommodate your ship, and on the other side of that is the Hub. It's also impossible to miss, it'll look like a swirling mass of ships of every size with a much larger mass in the middle-I assume you have a viewer and don't just rely on sensor data?"

[Zerrer]

Ashael nodded. "That should work," she said. After giving Rranntak a quick, platonic kiss, she blinked back to the Templar. The ship started glowing.

[Swix]

Rranntak blinked in surprise at the same time Ashael blinked away from him and into the ship. Physical contact from a being from another plane of existence! He couldn't help but grin a little (he would've reacted that way if she'd merely shook his hand ).
"Hey, where'd she go?" Rranntak said aloud as he first noticed Ashael had gone, then that her ship was glowing "ah, right, of course" the E-Maginian muttered to himself, feeling a little embarrassed at his lack of observation. The reptilian pointed his touchpad at the alien ship, sending a single datastream Templars way holding the information he'd promised-along with a simple message in Common

Be safe
-Rranntak

[MDude]

"Uh... That's good. Just let me take a look around here." the speakers of the computer emanated, as the screen slowly flickered back to life again afer the short journey to the ships, "Um, one of you guys feel like working the webcam?" Taking his cue, one of the grunts unstuck the small device taped to the computer monitor and scanned the area. Getting a nice view of the area, the computer mulled over which species to ride with. Mostly, it wanted to avoid excess humidity, heat, or fan-clogging dirt and hair that could wear on it's systems. Something not uncomfortable with the human helpers wouldn't hurt either.

After considering the Tezka for a moment (after all snakes must have some pretty good air filters), MDefrag settled on the Tiermutians as the safest choice. "Okay... I'm thinking we should go with those green dragon people.", the machine announced to its couriers, who slowly wheeled the cart around and over to the proper ship, glad that battle hadn't erupted on first contact, but still not entirely convinced their safety was assured. Approaching the ship's pilot, MDefrag gave his best attempt at a personal greeting. "Hello pilot, I am unofficial Evil Council representative MDefrag, and you are? Oh, and sorry for the demands, but if I'm going to get put in a confined space, we ought to get some kind of 120 volt alternating current source, unless you want my combustion engine generator fuming up the place."

[Swix]

((Are you guys still interested in this? ))

In her little remote ship, Erayna accompanied by Jack approachd the massive swirling blue hole in space that was the link between the two universes, rapidly dwarfed by it's sheer size before they registered as being anywhere near the entrance. The AI didn;t give so much as a 'hang on' before the remote ship plunged through the blueness, reappearing on the other side in a clearly different area of space. For a start, there were no nearby planets to be seen, though that didn't interfere much with the view. In front of them was a mass of metallic, organic chaos that consisted of ships of many different designs and places of origin. There were two ships that could only be called massive, in comparison with everything else their bulk was only smaller than the station itself. Around those were bloated Oktalun warships that would have bristled with weapons of all kinds if it hadn't been for the stations 'no live weapons' rule, oddly shaped and odd looking Krkrln ships, clearly alive in their own right. Smaller than these were the Reniilian and T'Laran ships, both fairly easy to distinguish as the T'Larans tended to go for thick and heavy whilst the Reniilians were a lot lighter, which was odd when you noticed the Reniilians were using a type of 'living rock' material which originated from their home moon. Oddest of all though were the large gaps that seemed to be easily avoided by all the other ships, as though they did not to use the apparently free space. Between all these tiny transports and shuttlepods ferried crew, political persons and the average joe citizen and non-citizen of the Consortium, where the ships and docking bays were able they were clamped together, making the outside of the Hub look a sort of prickly mess, though areas that were free of bays were smooth. The Hub itself wasn't exactly spotless, as the aftermath of the attack showed it's presence where the blackened scars remained.

"So" Erayna said, stopping far enough away from the slowly rotating chaos not to disturb or be disturbed "where to? I could show you around the station, I suppose, or we could go visit one of the homeworlds, or I could introduce you to my creators"
_____________________________________________________________
The Tiermutian male tilted his head slightly to the side after being approached by what looked like a pile of mechanical parts with a screen being carried by two vaguely E-Maginian or Tiermutian mammals. His dark green hair was cut short below his lighter pointed green ears, so it slightly covered then. This Tiermutians eyes were a startlingly bright red, though he sported the Consortiums uniform rather than his kinds preferred clinical white jackets. The draconian alien still regarded the unofficial Evil Council representative with his head tilted thoughtfully before answering.

"Greetings, MDefrag" he said, the power behind his voice was clearly a proud one "I am Sen. This alternating current should not be hard to set up. My ship is very customizable" The alien looked as if he was about to say something else, but the words never came out as he snapped his mouth shut quickly, substituting it for "the trip won't take very long"
_____________________________________________________________
Ashael should have all the information she needs for getting going to visit the station now, although watching out for the flagship would definitely be a good idea.

[Coolpikaaa]

"The creators?" Jack asked aloud.

"Creator" was a funny word, he noted. It could really mean anything depending on your viewpoint.

Scanning around outside, he noted damage to some of the ships. Had she mentioned a battle before? He couldn't remember. Jack didn't dare bring it up though, in fear of his friend thinking he was damaged in the transfer or worse, going corrupt.

-coolpikaaa

[MDude]

The two human assistants gave concerned glances toward the computer monitor, as if uncertain whether to be put off by the alien's response. The display avoided giving them a clear answer, showing an even more blank face than usual as MDefrag accepted the invitation aboard. "Well met, Sen. I'll have my men set my systems up to the best of their ability. Self-transportation is not an issue I am used to considering." the A.I. explained, hoping it hadn't give the impression of a technologically backwards Council.

Hauling their charge aboard piece by piece, the grunts set to work hooking everything up for the short trip. While they seemed calm at work, the prospect of traveling into space, and in fact into another world, was starting to make them a little nervous. One of them considered how, without another portal back to the cave, they would get back across the Dojo after their visit to Consortium space. He decided to worry about it later.

[Swix]

"You know, the people that put you together" Erayna said to Jack, puzzled why he'd asked "the ones who taught you. Organics call them 'parents'... except the Krkrln"

Erayna paused, briefly scanning through memories and considering ideas until she finally came up with something "One of them's at the Tezca homeworld, I can take you to meet him and show you their solar system too. Would you like that?"

Apparently not expecting the answer to be no, Erayna had already set up a course to the old system of serpents. But then again, there were also several other courses set up for different solar systems, most likely one for each 'parent'. There were seven in total.
_____________________________________________________________
Sen tilted his head forward slightly to the screen, his green hair falling forward as he did so before he turned back and made his way into the scout ship. After his prehensile tail disappeared through the sliding doorway his green, bright eyed face was poked back out. "Once your 'men' have finished, please tell me and I'll begin departure" his scaled face had a thin smile attached to it "I'll be in the cockpit at the front, unsurprisingly" and with that he disappeared inside.

It was fairly comfortable inside the ship, the temperature was warm but tolerable for the human helpers and had good ventilation, though not quite as cranked up as it would have been travelling with a Tezca. There were circular seats arranged around a screen in a semicircle that when activated would provide the same view of space that the pilot was seeing. Apart from straps attached to each seat designed to fit any species the Consortium had encountered, and the option to remove them if you happened to be a legless species, it was pretty bare but panels designed for customization came open easily. It wouldn't be hard, and Sen would be waiting for them at the front.

[Cirrial]

501 stares a little too long at Teesn then is probably comfortable for any party involved as a few internal overrides hijack his eyes, capturing reams and reams of images of the Tezcan ambassador, scrutinising every visible biological structure, subsystems dissecting and categorising the information within seconds.

He suddenly shakes his head, breaking out of his mechanical trance, and stares wildly around, hands slightly raised in mild alarm. "Sorry, I'm not entirely sure what just came over me. I've got programs running in my head that I'm not even aware of. Apologies for any past, present and future odd behaviour." Five, not a good way to greet an ambassador of an extra-universal alliance!

He raises a claw to mention Station Zero as a place well hidden from prying eyes, before recalling that it exists as no more than dismantled ruins, mere twisted metal wreckage under the ground. He feels a pang of loneliness and solitude upon suddenly remembering just how isolated and cut-off from his home universe he is. Though small, the sudden feeling is enough to completely interrupt his planned speech.

"...U, uh, I'm not entirely sure, um, where such a private place might, er, be." Hold yourself together, 501, don't fall apart in front of the ambassador! "Also, on behalf of Maratix and the Floating Arm galaxy, I'd like to offer you honourary member status of the Floating Arm Alliance. Erm, not you, your species and those other member species of this Consortium I've heard so, uh, little about." You're falling to pieces, 501.

"Excuse me, I have to go... sort something out." 501 stiffly bows to Teesn, before swivelling around and marching off, preferring to end his train-wreck of a meeting abruptly rather then let it degenerate into something worse.

His thoughts almost immediately drift back to the uncomfortable possibility that Maratix may have deliberately isolated him here, or may have been forced to ban any portals to and from Blackstar. He marches off faster, before grinding to a halt and recalling the reason he asked to see an ambassador in the first place.

His credibility and reputation as a respectable diplomat probably completely ruined by now, he jogs back up to Teesn. "Oh, and I'd like access to your portal technology for testing purposes. Y'know, just to see if great minds think alike, heh heh." If anyone back home gets a transcript of this, I can wave goodbye to the diplomat title.

[Swix]

((I apologise for the powerplays I am about to pull, it's for the story to continue. If anything too ppish happens please PM me and I'll sort it))

Teesn did not blink, as a creature with eyelids would have at 501s strange behaviour, instead his scales subtly began to change their colour in response to his mixed emotions at being stared at by a machine. He had them back to their usual calm grey-green once 501 had explained and got himself together after walking off halfway through, leaving his bodyguards bright silver with surprise.
"If you want to see our Portal technology 501, then..." Teesn began, but the ambassador was rudely interrupted by the sudden presence of an E-Maginian whose distinctive featuqes were the red coloured robe around his waist, a wristband of some metallic alloy that was fused to his arm and was flanked by several snakelike creatures all holding weapons. Though they too were serpents the similarity with the Tezca ended there. They were varying shades of green with yellow eyes that had the ability to blink, hoods in full bloom and blunt nosed faces. They had only one pair of arms that instead of having fingers tapered like the ends of their tails, and were entirely prehensile. Currently all their guns were trained on 501 and the trio of Tezca. Teesns bodyguards, their own weapons half drawn, were smart enough to know a hopeless situation when they saw one, their scales adding red spots of annoyance as they holstered their own.
"Calamanntyrra" Teesn directed at the E-Maginian "what are you doing here?"
"The same thing you are" Calamanntyrra answered "on behalf of the Muzvus Empire. Once we've dealt with this one we'll find this worlds leader"
"You won't" Teesn told him with his lower arms folded in front of his abdomen "no-one knows where he is"
"Liar!" one of the Muzvus shouted at the founder, before what appeared to be dust floating past caused a flaming circle to form around the original party and the small transport. That didn't stop the shots being fired by the Muzvus, Calamanntyrras shouts at them to stop, or the figure of a massive horned demon appearing out of the flames. Had 501 been paying that much attention to the ambassador he'd have seen a look of horror even on a species with little facial muscle that was unmistakable, as well as Teesn turning a bright shade of yellow at the sight of the thing. The bodyguards grabbed the terrorstruck Tezcan and threw him inside the transport unceremoniusly as wildfire and plasma shots battled for their attention.
Having thrown Teesn back through the doorway of their craft the two bodyguards proceeded to do the same thing to 501 before diving through themselves. The craft lifted off immediately despite any protests 501 may have given, causing the downed Teesn to be knocked over once again as the ship made a dash for space.
"My apologies" Teesn said when he could stand "but at least you'll get to see our Portal technology now"
Teesn was extremely shaken up, oddly less by the appearance of Calamanntyrra than he was by the presence of the fire and... whatever it was that had come out of it.
_____________________________________________________________
Elsewhere, the same creatures with unkown intentions showed themselves, each of them packing a weapon and almost in unison showing themselves. They centred around major population centres and the Consortiums chosen landing spot, which was the only place where their weapons were trained on anyone. Upon seeing the Muzvus N'Lel made what sounded like a squeak and promptly raised his hands, whilst pilots quick enough to avoid gunfire dashed into their ships and locked the doors.

Inside the ship housing MDefrag, his two assistants and the Tiermutian pilot Sen the vehicle juddered to sudden life and too made a dash for space after the few others lucky enough to escape. It wasn't that they were cowards, it was the general contingency plan when anywhere dealing with the enemy, especially when Consortium members (the pilots) were unarmed.

((Should anyone wish to join later it's still possible to go to the Hub, but you're gonna need to approach the Muzvus this time ))

[Cirrial]

The first thing 501 feels is relief at Teesn's passive acceptance of his strange behaviour. Maybe he's used to diplomats behaving like this. Maybe he thinks it's a machine thing. ...Better that then a species trait. I don't want to have to apologise to every keynain I meet for the rest of my life for misrepresenting them.

The next thing he feels is bewildered terror upon noticing the weapons pointed at him. Five feathers this is not going well! He notices Teesn and his bodyguards reacting in distinctly guarded ways, and realises that this might be a hostile group, as opposed to him unwittingly offending Teesn. "Uh, hey, who are you guys? I'm a neutral party here-"

He catches parts of the exchange between Teesn and Calamanntyrra as shots are fired in both directions. He grabs at both the ion pistols holstered to his side, taking the confusion of the situation as an opportunity to prepare himself. His body, of custom and near-unique composition and technology, is very resilient to most known weapons. However, whatever the Muzvus are wielding are very much unknown weapons to 501.

He's suddenly grappled and is thrust in the direction of a waiting ship. He stumbles backwards, his own motions compensating for his otherwise fairly heavy body, and a few stray plasma shots smack heavily into the forcefield around his torso.

501 grunts quietly, as if the blows are more like soft punches then high velocity plasma, as his whirling forcefield ripples, not so much dispersing or deflecting the blasts as outright absorbing them. The flow of blue energy is slightly more chaotic than usual as his internal environment adjusts itself to the sudden increase in energy.

Safely on board the ship, 501 nods at Teesn's comment. "I didn't know your enemies were here too. I'm going to assume they're your enemies. I'm also going to assume, based on the reception I've had from both parties, that you guys are the side I want to be on right now."

He flails an arm about, trying to grab something, almost as if suddenly not trusting his ability to stand. "...Agh. Er, I'm on a ship right now that you people probably understand in better detail than I do." His forcefield ripples with a little more force than normal. Oh five... Stay calm, stay calm.

"Um... I need something to discharge excess energy into or at so I don't damage any of this ship's systems. Something that can hold a charge without directing it into something else nearby, preferably. No hurry, except I'm a little concerned if I don't vent the excess energy soon it'll trigger some kind of catastrophic system failure. I'll explain if you want but you can probably understand my concern."

I knew I should have tested the system before I told those drones to install it! I'm not exactly representing Maratix technology fairly right now!

[MDude]

Carefully moving around panels and attaching cables, the computer minions quickly attached the main tower to the wall of the ship, stowing the rest of the equipment as best they could. After making sure the computer was booting properly, they figured MDefrag would figure out how to interface with the ship by himself and headed towards the front to meet with the pilot. Peering out the windows, they had just barely noticed the hostile forces surrounding the ship before almost falling over from the sudden takeoff.

Meanwhile, MDefrag had managed to gain passenger-level access to the ship's computer, observing the attack through the ship's video systems. "Start up and communication with ship succeeded without incident." the computer program spoke through the ship's intercom "Avoiding harm on this mission has become less likely, however we seem to be out of immediate harm for now. Pilot, do you know how likely we are to be followed?" The slightly tinny tone to his voice barely gave away his immense fear of being blown out of the sky. His assistants were less subtle in the matter, unable do much more than slowly ease their breathing as they leaned against the walls for support.

[Swix]

Teesns scales slowly changed from their terrified colour back to their normal grey-green, the Tezcan stubbornly controlling the many moods that had just swept over him one on top of the other, including the embarrassment he felt at having just lost control in front of a possible ally.

"Well, 501, you were right about them being our enemies. We did not realise they had come through here either, otherwise we would have been far more prepared. I can explain the relationship between the Consortium and the Muzvus Empire later if you wish" Teesn seemed to breathe easier, his single lung taking in great gulps of air "For now it sounds like you have something of a problem. I'm no engineer but I don't think this little craft will be able to hold this excess charge of yours, it's only suitable for relatively short journeys. You'll have to wait until we get up to the flagship. It shouldn't take too long"

"Everyone hold on!" the pilots voice came through the com systems, full of the Tezcan equivalent of adrenaline. This flight had gotten a lot more interesting it seemed, as weapons fire lit up the viewing ports either side of them the small ship moved hard one way, then the other to avoid stray blasts. What had been an almost clear area outside of the atmosphere bar the sleek flagship was now filled with fighters barely larger than the ship they were were in. Tezca fighters resembled it in their design, sleek teardrop shapes with slight bulges either side for firing weapons, whilst the attackers ships looked rather strange. They were more rounded at the front with a semi-circle cut out directly pointing at wherever they faced, but as you approached the back they tapered out much like the TEzca craft. The fight couldn't have been going on for very long as the last few fighters left the belly of the flagship, itself releasing it's own massive blasts where it was safe. Oddly, though it looked like chaos outside both sides seemed to be avoiding hitting the ship Teesn and 501 were on. "How long do you think you can hold this excess energy?" the Ambassador asked the mechabical keynain.
_____________________________________________________________

"Oh, hello" Sen said in a disturbingly nonchalant fashion to the two humans that had joined him before falling over. The calm after the sudden takeoff was soon broken when they exited the atmosphere, straight up and into the beginnings of a small war. "Out of the fire and into the Chezzaks lair" Sen muttered, ducking and weaving past friend and foe alike "Does this answer your question MDefrag?" he said, even he seemed shaken up by what was going on up here "They must've been laying here waiting for us all along. This wasn't supposed to happen!" the pilot made a very sharp upwards manouvre as a bolt from the flagship almost hit them, instead hitting a Muzvus enemy fighter who's shields boiled away upon impact before the craft itself exploded due to damage to vital systems. Sen flipped a switch, yelling "check your fire, damnit" into it and then flipped it back off before carrying on. At this speed in a few minutes they should be through the shining blue hole in space.

((As MDude told me he was still interested in this I figured I may as well continue))