"The idea has merit. But we need to see how they react. We don't want to start an interstellar incident if you win their ship in a game." Aramis smiles.
The crew waits for the other ships to arrive. When the second fleet arrives, they spend a few minutes 'reorienting' into a half-dozen dreadnaught sized ships, each about a tenth the size of the 'forts'.
When the comm system buzzes to life, Aramis finds himself face to digital face with the woman Cat and Ynja met earlier. "Hail, I see we've got the commander of the invasion force. I'm Major General Abigail Williams, Commander Nuutex Defense Force Alpha, Captain of the Amalgship Lone Star. Who do I have the dubious pleasure of addressing this time."
"Got 'em locked up six ways from seventhday ma'am, they sneeze, it'll be the shortest sneeze in history..."
"They ain't got nothin' but pop-guns Cap, minimal threat..."
"We best be quick in the reply"
Gets the comms ready for a fast response.
"This is Aramis Ramirez, captain of the Scout Exploration Vessel Stargazer. Our mission is exploration, and our intentions are not hostile. It appears your technology is more advanced than ours, so perhaps it would be better to speak in person. Major General Abigail Williams, would you be a representative of the government of this system?" Aramis remains calm and does not react to the odd speaking patterns.
"There ships are targeting us Captain, but we are not targeting them, hope they understand where here for peace"
She lets the comms stay open, so that is sent as well.
The woman tips her hat back. "Ramirez huh?" There are some murmurs from the crew behind her. "Yeah, you lot can come over. Follow the beacon." She looks off camera and nods, and a beacon begins to ping off the conglomerate ship.
The comm system goes off line.
Ivan strokes his beard after the comms are cut. His hands go down to his sword and pistol. Smiling at the Captain, he speaks slowly as he controls his accent. "Sir, if'n ya don't mind, I'd like ta mosey on down to meet them with ya. Ain't really my place to ask, but I'd like ta just the same."
A hand comes up to his jaw as he coughs for a moment. "That is very tough on the jaww. 'ow do they speak like thyat?"
"better you than me, they hated me"
"Follow the beacon, aye. Stargazer clear." Aramis replies and drops the connection.
"Helm, take us in." Aramis commands. "Besides Ivan and myself going to meet them, do you want a second chance, Cat and Ynja?"
While following the beacon, Aramis closes his eyes and scans the main ship for life. The ship is enormous, but does it have the same density of crew as alliance ships?
"They see me they may get upset again, seems I left myself open to being shot and legally so, Ill stay on the mother if that is all right, I wish you better luck then I had. best take Cats ship as well. Mine is a little to weaponized. My help to take a true scout."
She says
Sensor readings are wonky, the ships have so many power sources that they are interfering with the sensors. The 'Dreadnought' ships have over 500 power sources on board. Individually, they are smaller and less powerful than the engines on the Stargazer.
Even stranger, with that many power sources, the ships should require 50 times the fuel the Stargazer requires... but the sensors can't identify fuel tanks on the ships.
Cat's small ship, with those who wish to go over (which includes four of the Mylthani who request to go so they can get a better look at the ships, unless told they can't go) takes off and flies over. As the ship gets closer, those onboard sees the odd conglomerate ships up close. Each ship is made up of components that are anywhere from 5 to 50 times the size of Cat's ship.
Once the ship lands, a group of locals show up to escort the group to the meeting. They are a mix of men and women, about 3 in 7 sporting obvious cyberware of some type.
Nobody is required to leave their weapons, and the group ends up in a large wood paneled conference room. The woman in charge is sitting, drinking from an obvious bottle of amber liquid. "Have a seat. Anyone want something to drink? Water, bourbon, scotch, wine, beer, fruit juice?"
Ivan straightens his clothes before they step off the ship and does not bother to hide his curious glances at their ship and outfits. And when they come before the leader, Ivan grins at her offer. Normally, he would wait on the Captain to order first, but he decided to take a chance, trying to act give an air of ease.
"Vell, since you're ohffering, I vould love a beer, thank you!"
Aramis takes a seat opposite to the lady in charge. "Scotch please. Dash of water." Aramis replies and then introduces his crew and lastly himself.
Bottles are passed out.
"Oh, we also got coffee, if you prefer that, with or without bourbon." The Major General says as a younger male comes in with a tray that has a steaming pot on it. She grabs a mug with a white star on it and pours some dark liquid out of the pot and into the mug, before splashing some dark liquor into it. A couple of small pinkish cubes are added, and the whole concoction mixed up. She sips the liquid and grins. "Mmmm, nice, I get to unlock the good stuff without getting written up for it." There's a round of laughs and guffaws at that one. She gives the other people there a glare, which is completely ignored.
Glare is a mock glare, seems to be an in joke of some kind amongst the crew.
"So, Ramirez huh? What's a Ramirez doing in charge of a Cohm'Eee ship? Or did they drag the dishwasher up and put him in fancy clothes to get a better reaction than the cyborg spy got?" The Major General asks, over her cup.
She isn't fond of Ynja at all, but doesn't seem ready to start yelling 'off with their heads' either. On the other hand, if she did start yelling that, you get the feeling from the crew that they'd cheerfully dump some headless corpses out the nearest airlock. Less that they are bloody minded and more that they are loyal to the extreme and competent enough to deal with the head removal thing quickly.
Ivan grins at the playfulness between the Captain and her crew.
Are off of their society like that, or just this bunch?... I wouldn't mind some of that rubbing off on our military. Then again, maybe they can afford to be like that because of their tech? Hmm, so many question...
"Thank you for the drink." Aramis complements his host after he takes a sip.
"While we both speak the same language and apparently share origins from some point in our history, I am struggling to understand the meaning of your questions. First, why do you call our ship Cohm'Eee? What does Cohm'Eee mean to you?" He leaves the inferences to himself or Ynja to avoid getting backed into a corner of insults.
"A Cohm'Eee is a Cohm'Eee, or a Russ'Key, although they could also be a Chai'Nee as well. Someone what thinks that everybody ought ta own everything, and nobody but the ones in power should be able to decide what get's done with everyone's stuff. Gah'Gare'In and Rahg'Nah'Voled are both quintessential Cohm'Eee names."
"Damn straight they is."
"Might as well wear a damn gold sickle!"
The woman waves her hand, to quite the others down again. "Plus, you sent your damn scouts to stooge around our system without sayin' a damn thing, spyin' like stinkin' Cohm'Eee's. When we poked 'em with a stick, they refused to hold open communications, sure damn sign of deceit on their part. You think we was born yesterday? And then they sat at the table and insulted us to our faces when we show'd hospitality. Accused us of threatenin' them when we told 'em straight up what sort of trouble they was in for actin' like Cohm'Eee spies. They your people, so you got the responsibility for their actions, so your up on the choppin' block too."
Aramis calmly listens to understand and replies, "I'm still not clear about what is a Cohm'Eee, Russ'Key, or Chai'Nee. However, I can tell you that we are all scouts in the service of the Free World's Alliance. We have crew representing each of the three systems of the Alliance: the Mylthani Collective, the Lisandran Empire, and the Telthani Republic."
He pauses to let that sink in and continues, "As for stooging around, I believe you are referring to our standard scouting protocol of entering and surveying a system using only passive sensors. We do that to potentially avoid any avoidable encounters that could occur if we start banging away with our active sensors. Obviously, that did not happen here. As for open communications, I believe your stellar communications are much faster than ours. Even if our technology was as advanced as yours, my crew is unpracticed at real time stellar communications, which is why I asked to meet you. And lastly with respect to what my scout Ynja Eva Ragnavold said to you, I apologize. She is a pilot and technical survey specialist. She is not a contact specialist nor in command of or responsible for this exploration mission; I am. We represent your first encounter with the Free World's Alliance. So, how can we reset and improve our relationship?" He asks sincerely and takes a sip of his Scotch.
The woman looks Aramis over. "Radio waves is radio waves, your tech is as advanced as ours on that front." She rubs her chin thoughtfully. "I take it the 'Mylthani Collective' is the cats? Empires and Republics sound human, Collectives sound more alien." She shrugs. "Well, I guess we can set up a tribunal for you folks, if you're willin'. Can't promise you'll get off without a fine or somethin'. Proper protocol, as we see it, is that when you saw we were here, you broadcast a message sayin' somethin' like "Hey, we just entered your system, we come in peace, we ain't bandits or Cohm'Ees"."
"So, you willin' to submit to a tribunal?"
Aramis ignores the issues about broadcasting intentions and diplomatically replies, "If a tribunal is the best way to improve relations between our governments, I would like to submit. However, would you please tell me more about this tribunal process and potential outcomes, before I do. As well as what are the consequences if I don't submit."
"Well, the tribunal involves a judician, an advocate, and a prosecutor. The prosecutor provides evidence against you and your people, and decides what charges they will produce against you. The advocate acts as your advisor and defends you against the prosecutor. The judician weighs the facts presented by both sides, and pronounces guilt or innocence. If it's guilt, then the judician, the advocate, and the prosecutor decide the punishment." Her slow twang nearly vanishes as she describes the process, her diction sharpening to a razor's edge, as if she were speaking a different dialect. "The potential outcome will depend on the charges, which could range from criminal trespass to espionage, and from a fine to execution. The consequences if you don't submit is you'll be tried in absentia, and with no advocate, just a judician and prosecutor. Any future diplomatic ventures between our government and yours would be predicated on extradition for any punishment that was assigned based on the in absentia trial."
Aramis evaluates his options using his considerable legal training.
Aramis has insufficient knowledge of the local laws to know his chances. However, if the person is stating the way things work, and that they'll require extradition as part of any diplomatic overtures, then he knows that (A) Tried in Absentia is almost certainly the same as 'found guilty on all counts'. And, (B) sentences tend to be harsher for those who choose to avoid the law, judges being judges. Finally, (C) it's highly unlikely Aramis's government would hand him or the crew over for a death sentence, it is likely such a situation would set back diplomacy decades. On the other hand, so would Aramis and his crew being executed, and it could even start a war.
After a half minute of contemplation, Aramis replies, "Alright. Let's face your tribunal."
The woman nods. "Vere well then, you're ship will be impounded, and your crew put in custody. I don't see no reason to make it a cell and cot with bread and water, long as ya'lls crew obeys the rules. No weapons, no electronics, no monkeying with our ship's systems, no fightin', with us or each other. Gentleman's honor and all that." She responds, standing up. "We'll put tow lines on your ship and tow it behind us. The tribunal'll take place at our planet. Your crew can be held on station, or on planetary surface, if they have a preference. One or the other though, too much security red tape to split your crew between two places." She pauses, obviously waiting to see if there's any objections.
"I would like to record a message for my superiors and send it through the warp point informing them of the tribunal. I hope that there would not be any problem with that? And I hope that the "no electronics" rule does not apply to cybernetics that compensate for missing organics, right?"
Then Aramis looks to his attending command crew, "are there any other issues that I may be missing?"
"Yes, you can send a message. Given the amount of your scouts replacements, we'll have to go over 'em with a finetooth and make sure they ain't got nothin' dangerous in 'em. Probably put limiters on stuff like strength and power output. She'll also have to wear a disabler, which'll shut 'er down hard if she tries anything." She says evenly, and nods at a nearby woman. "Doc Watson here is one of our experts on cybernetics."
The woman nods, looking up from under her wide brimmed hat. Her eyes glow an electronic blue that are obviously artificial. She raises her hat with one hand that moves in such a fluid way that it's obviously artificial, despite looking real. "Bit of a primitive frame, so I doubt there's anything advanced enough to be dangerous in it, but I'll make sure it'll blow up real good if she get's fiesty." The woman says, her voice smooth and mellow, like old whiskey.
The Major General nods. "Anything else?"
"Two last things that I can think of," Aramis replies. "First, while our ship is impounded in your custody, it still belongs to our government. Therefore, we need assurances that it will not be damaged, entered, or interrogated in any way. We will seal the ship such that it can only be opened and operated by a representative of our government. Second, I would like assurances that our health and security will be properly maintained while we are in your custody such that it will be reported to our government. Presumably, the results of the tribunal will be reported to our government by ourselves or by your government when additional envoys arrive."
The woman nods. "The ships'll be put in an L4 or L5 orbit, and returned to you if you're not found guilty. If you are, then they're forfeit, same as any other spy's possessions. We'll feed and house you, I did say we wouldn't put you in a cell on bread and water didn't I? And I did offer your choice of being housed on the station or the planet." The last bit is said a bit forcefully, with slower speech, as if making a point of reminding them of it. "So your health and safety are guaranteed, so long as you follow safety instructions, at least as safe as the guards anyway. As to your government, you can set your ship to broadcast to your warp point and leave behind a relay if you like, we won't bother it. Just tune the ship to a specific frequency we give you, and it'll carry the trial to them."
"We'll stay on your station. What now?" Aramis replies with the incredulity of the moment starting to sink in.
"Do whatever you need to do with your ship to lock it down and get it ready for long term orbital storage. Then your crew will transfer over to my ship. Then we tow you back. Then we get the proceedings started, then sometime next month, the trial begins." She says, nodding and pulling the brim of her top hat down.
The crew is transferred over, and once it's explained that the Mylthani have dietary requirements, their food is brought over as well in crates. The Mylthani also bring over a vat growth system that can let them grow the equivalent of edible bacteria off extremely simple sugars that can be synthesized so they have a source of emergency food should things take longer than expected. The Nutexians go over it, find it acceptable, and allow it on board their ship.
Ynja's cybernetics are modified so she's unable to exert full strength, and her power core is fixed with a limiter, so she can't put it into overload. Some components which could be used to make weapons or bombs in her limbs and core are removed and replaced with make-shift parts of the local's design which can't be used as weapons. This leaves Ynja somewhat unable to move around as easily as she normally could. So the locals give her a motorized wheelchair that makes it easier for her to get around in.
The crew is given an entire ship section to stay in. The computer access points have been removed, but there are three 'common rooms' with holo-displays that have internal storage with entertainment packages stored in them. Nothing that would reveal technology or military secrets, but dramas, actions, and comedies are available. The Mylthani immediately set up the holo-display and begin to watch the entertainment shows, one after another, continuously. Always at least one Mylthani, never more than three.
A medical bay is set up with a local doctor in charge, although that doctor works with the crew's doctor to go over all the medical files of the crew, especially the Mylthani. Fortunately, the Mylthani medic is available to answer questions (when she's not watching holo-entertainment).
The rooms are spartan but not uncomfortable, and the crew has the run of the area they are assigned. Guards prevent them from leaving that area. The guards are polite, but don't talk to the prisoners, instead they carry batons (no projectile weapons), although their body language says they are feeling a bit naked with no guns on their hips. Given the rest of the crew of the ship is armed, breaking out with just the batons the guards have would be suicide.
Aramis leads his command crew back to the ship as much in custody as they might be. He prepares and send a recording for his superiors to be carried by Pantry. He sticks to the facts including Ynja's scouting report and expecting it to be entered as evidence in the trial. He offers the opportunity to any of his command crew to send corroborating recordings, ensuring that they have the same expectations that they could be entered as evidence against them.
He supervises the techs to attempt to leave a relay behind to broadcast the trial through the warp point.
He double-checks all of the lock down protocols of the ships. He attempts to suggest that the ship activate its First Contact protocols, in case anyone of non-Alliance attempts to operate the ship. However, he internally doubts that will work.
He leaves behind everything in his personal locker except his leather jacket [Masterwork Mesh], Inertial Locator, and Short Range Communicator.
Once in their custody, Aramis would request access to all legal precedents and begin researching their trial.
It'll take most of the 3 weeks the ship takes to get back to the planet, but Aramis will find the following.
Their laws are derivative of very very old laws, pre-empire. Aramis finds that had Ynja and Cat transmitted their ID within 6 hours after entering the system, no trial would have been possible. Had they not been official representatives of a foreign power, no trial would have been required. However, as official representatives who failed to follow contact protocols, the laws kick in.
At this point, the crew is technically guilty. So, the question is less about guilt, and more about appropriate punishment. The punishment can range from censure to death, and it will be up to the judician to decide. Almost certainly the case will revolve around justifications for the behavior, to minimize the punishment.
Nutexian law is rather straight forward, unlike most law bases. Crimes are very general, and mandatory to be enforced. However, actual punishment is highly variable based on circumstances.
- first contacts with aliens.
- sentences with foreign governments dove-tailed with diplomacy
- any lenient sentencing due to ignorance of the law. Meaning, they didn't know the law to obey it. Especially, between foreigners.
- spies and definition of spies. Meaning, can we use their definition to make a distinction between scouting and spying
- any information from their own scout service and protocols
1) 0 first contacts with aliens
2) 0 sentences with foreign governments
3) 0 sentences on these charges previously. There's nothing in the data bundle about other existing jurisprudence on other cases with leniency or ignorance of the law
4) Spies are defined as any operative, paid or otherwise, of a foreign government that does not announce themselves upon entering their sovereign space.
5) No indication they have a scout service or scout protocol beyond their own legal requirements to announce upon entering someone else's controlled space (be it acreage or space).
And I can't imagine a legal system where there would not be precedence about someone claiming ignorance of the law.
Look, if I'm asking too much, just handwave what you want me to do. I'm trying to play my character, but I feel caught in a bear trap. Cheers
Not at all, just you don't have access to their entire legal database, only the legal cases that directly apply to you. That's why you're getting back a lot of nothing on your searches. Basically, they gave you the laws that apply, and that's about it. So that's why you're getting so little information. It's not that there's nothing in their legal history, it's that nothing you have has it. It looks like they're only giving you the minimum required. Having looked it over though, you're advocate is likely to have access to much more information.
However, that does tell you things, primarily that you're the first contact situation they've actually had. Nothing else in their history is coming up as a first contact. Either that, or they've lied to you about what they gave you. Either way, that tells you something about them.
After a brief survey of their new living quarters to make sure everything is up to standard, Cath joins the Mylthani. 'For science' she claims while throwing her feet up on the table. However, it doesn't take that long for her to grow a bit restless and mix in short periods of annoying both Aramis and the guards trying to figure out more of their situation with her holo-drama marathons.
"Bleh. Nothing to tinker with end nothing to fly with end nothing fun to poke et. Is this ship slow or whet?"
As Cat and the Mylthani watch the entertainment programs, they begin to get some idea of the culture, and the planet.
The planet looks, based on the outdoor sets, to be rather primitive, at least biologically. Trees are huge, with long fern like limbs and leaves, and the underbrush is also fern like.
Most of the native life are vermin, from appearances, centipede like creatures, scorpions, spiders, and others. Of course, none are actually those animals, and some look like crosses (spider-centipedes, or scropion-millipedes), however, they are rather obviously of that general advancement. There are some smaller lizards and reptile analogues as well.
One recurring theme is the poisons the local insectivoid life uses, and it's affect on humans and earth animals. It liquefies the flesh shortly after injection, and it's horribly painful as it does so. Short of administering an anti-venom, the only way to stop it is to remove the limb before it moves up the blood stream. A shot to the artery is usually instant death as it liquefies the heart within a minute. This likely explains both the number of cybernetic prosthetics, and their advanced tech for such.
Another common thread is the 'Cohm'Eee', a mysterious secretive foreign government, all using names that are actually rather common on the Lisandran Empire's tax rolls. They believe in stealing everything from hard working individuals and giving it to lazy people who don't want to work. Most of the plots are rather contrived, but they are entertaining in a 'blow things up and watch the hot woman/man in skimpy clothes' kind of way.
The entire population appears to be armed, which is likely encouraged by the local wildlife. There's also a big emphasis on being a mix of bluntly honest and polite. It's a fine line to walk, and being dishonest or rude is equally abhorred. Duels are fairly common in the entertainment holos. They are even common in dramas, comedies, and romantic holos.
After watching them for 3 weeks, the Mylthani feel confident in stating that the locals are insane. But insane in a different way than most humans are insane. They seem to have a very strong sense of independence and blunt honesty mixed with a sense of 'us vs the universe' brotherhood and sense of honor around being polite. They are unlikely to 'fix' the trial, but, by the same token, they won't refrain from executing the crew if that's the final decision of the judician. Even if it meant war, they'd do it, because that's what they do.
"You know ..." Cath conspiratorially comments to the crew. "I've been thinking of getting e red sheet end spooking the guerds - they seem deethly efreid of thet ..." With a quick pause she resumes her normal tone. "...But I em not sure if I went to be shot just yet, so eny volunteers? But meybe soon if this ship doesn't hurry up ..."
In preparation for the landing, Ivan changes into his heaviest merchant gear: a pair of thick, brown pants with several side pockets, a fine shirt blue shirt with gold embroidery, and a long brown jacket with silver accents, the symbol of the merchant marines stitched into one shoulder and his family crest on the other.
He packs two bags to be taken with them. One contains clothes, medicine, liquor, a pack of cards, and a couple of paper books. In the other he packs his heirloom weapons, his guns, his datapad (locked, of course) and his monocle.
When the begin the process of transferring to the other ship he readily tells the guards that they will need to confiscate and hold his second bag, being completely open about what is contained in it. "In case our relationship takes a turn for the behtter.", he says.
- - - - -
Back on the station, Ivan sits buts keeps an eye on the entertainment, quite taken by it.
I really do need to bring some of this back to the ship. It would make movie mondays far more interesting...
Turning to the Captain, he asks ”So, vhat is the plan, Sir?”
Lets the local cybernetics team onto her ship and lets them look over every part of her equipment. She then gets into her maintenance rig so they can do the modifications requested of her.
"The system is open to you, you will find no hidden weapons in my body or power output busters. This is an experimental body made for me to mach my old one as closely as possible, your cybernetics is far more advanced. If I am not imprisoned or killed after the case. I would very much like to talk to you about having one of your full body prosthetic."
She then waits for them to complete there work.
The doctor looks over Ynja's mods. "Yeah, I can tell it's a prototype, half of it looks hand-made. How they hell did they expect to do field repairs on ya? Blech." She pokes around a bit, then shrugs, and closes Ynja back up. "No offense, but it's not worth bothering with to put limiters on this thing. The limiters wouldn't ever engage. Cain't promise nothin about a new body, but if ye don't get killed, you can try to buy one."
"Plan, Ivan? Well, they've restricted access to their legal precedents, so they've limited any creativity in mounting a defense. So, the plan is to wait. First, wait for their assigned legal counsel for us, in order to develop a stronger defense. Second, we wait for reinforcements. Representatives from the Alliance will respond eventually. Beyond that, we just observe and survey their culture from our stay here."
The ship eventually makes it's way into orbit around their planet, and the group is offloaded onto the station.
The station itself is enormous, easily 5 times the size of the Telthani station. Additionally, just from what they can see out the view-ports of the shuttles, the orbit of the planet is filled with ships and living habitats. O'Neill Cylinders float in the L4 and L5 points, preceding and trailing the planet. Each one five miles in diameter, and ten to twenty miles long.
Once on the station, the crew find it an odd thing. Those from Telthani less so. It feels old, very old, but well cared for, and routinely upgraded.
A spar has been sealed off from the rest of the station, and given over to housing the crew while their trials await.
The locals have decided to block off the trials into groups, with non-officers in one trial, officers in a different trial, and Ramirez, Ynja, and Cat in the third.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A young man in a long coat and carrying a flashy looking sword at his hip is escorted into a small conference room with the trio, and then left with them. "Good morning. I am Erick Montoya, Esquire. I've been randomly assigned to be your Advocate during your trial. If you are unhappy with my selection, you may request another random Advocate. I am a graduate of the Nuvera Academy. If I might say, requesting my replacement would be a mistake." He gives a light smile. His speech is very clipped and precise, with no hint of a drawl. "You are only allowed one request for replacement, so I suggest you reserve it." He pulls a small device out of his coat, and sets it on the table, where a light based keyboard appears on the table. He begins typing, the screen he's looking at appearing blank. "Now, I'll be honest, you're not going to get off. The law is clear, and your guilty. Let's be honest up front. Being guilty of breaking the law isn't unusual, most people break a law a week. The question is how culpable and how much punishment is merited. My job is to get that down to a minimum. Unfortunately, our Judician pool has been tainted by some... less than diplomatic... exposures by your group." He looks at Ynja significantly.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The junior officers are all ushered into a large conference room. A woman in a gray dress stands at the front of it, in front of a screen. "Greetings, I am Victoria Parish, I'll be your advocate for your trial. Let me start off by letting you know that you have the right to request my replacement if you are unhappy with me at any point. However, you only have the right to request this once. All of you are, to my understanding, not command crew. Therefore, you are all just obeying orders. While obeying orders is not a get out of jail free card if war crimes are involved, anything short of that it is a get out of the noose card. So, I have already arranged with my counterpart that death is off the table for you. I seriously doubt any of you will do any time at all, but I must warn you that is my expectation, not a guarantee."