{No problem} Vegka nodded, and started giving the information. Acordig to her, her tribe had couple of thousands of people in her tribe. That was not counting a couple of lesser tribes that were tributaries to the main tribe. Her description of lands occupied by the tribe was... not descriptive at all, but it gave Victioa an idea of how far the tribe stretched - what was interesting, was that there were a stretches of no-man land, of great forest that was not claimed by anyone. It was simply to dangerous for anyone to go there. There were a couple of interesting locations - mostly dangerous in great forest. But also cave with some minerals and natural big trees. The tribe was ruled by the council of chosen eldery... When the woman's voice started going hoarse, Victoria realised that they were already talking for couple of hours.
"Yes Captain!" The AM9 nodded, as she gave order. Sonya could see a number of bright spots on the screen, launching from the ship. She could barely make out the probes from this distance as anything else but a bright spot reflecting light. "Captian?" her look alike turned to Sonya. "Will we not move to the system that the rest of fleet went to explore? Or contact them?" AM5 asked.
"Excellent." Tungsten acknowledged. "Proceed with the second phase and continue to coordinate with Aegean." He ordered before he let his mind wander to what he could do in the meantime.
{welcome back! Also, we messed ship's names} "Affirmative." Hal15 nodded his head as he turned back to console. It took some time to prepare all the probes and return to the orbit of the planet. Finally - "Captain, the Aegean moving closer to the planet and preparing to deploy the probes!" The clone reported. Spoiler: ? 74 As the ship started moving closer to the planet, Zachary could ot shake of some kind of... feeling. The itching in the back of his head.
(Thanks! Glad to be back!) Zack had learned to trust his gut over the years and when he got a bad feeling about something he tried to listen to it. The problem was there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary happening, and he clenched his jaw in frustration. "Helm, maintain both distance and position from the Aegean. Science, monitor their progress. Operations, have emergency response shuttles prepped in case of... anything, and continue with operations." With his orders issued and his ship as well prepared as it could be, Zack turned back to his consoles to see if there was anything he missed that would have set off his 'spider-sense'.
Spoiler: ? 97 Suddenly one of the clones riases voice. "Sensors! Energy spike on the planet's surface!" He exclaimed.
"Shields up, standby evasive maneuvers! Transmit our sensor readings to the Aegean and have them climb to a higher orbit." Zack ordered.
I see... the cave needs to be investigated – the minerals might be of use to us. The other locations need to be investigated as well – they may be dangerous for the locals, but they should not be as dangerous for us... I hope. Victoria kept nodding along, listening carefully and making mental notes of anything that could be important... until their guest started getting hoarse. “Alright, that's enough for now. I am sorry I made you talk for so long, I didn't realize how much time it was taking, Vekga.” She paused as she thought of something. “We should have Sylvie give you a full physical check-up, just in case.” She looked at Patricia. “Contact her and see when she can do it.” She then turned back to their guest. “Since you answered everything I asked of you so far... is there anything you wish to ask me?”
"Captain! The Aegan is tarting-" Whatever more the Hal12 was about to say, went silent as sudden light shown on surface. Then a moment later a beam of light struck Aegan- The crew stayed silent, looking at the screen...
At Victoria's words, Vegka hesitated... then bowed her head. "I would not dare, oh great one." She said with a ting of fear. Spoiler: diplomacy 39+10 (diplomacy)+10 (deception) - success Yet despite her words, Victoria could see she had question. The native woman simply did not want to offend her... partly of fear, but also partly of reverance.
Zack watched his screen in horror as a particle beam shredded the Aegean like it was nothing. "Scramble emergency response shuttles!" Tungsten snapped. "Life signs!? Sensors scan the debris! track any escape pods, homing beacons, or distress signals! Are there any large sections of the hull still intact that have survivors?" With his orders issued he concluded, "This is a rescue operation people, we may have wounded. Communications contact sick bay and tell them to prep for incoming, and relay what's happened to the rest of the fleet."
At his voice the crew started to move again. Spoiler: Tactical 4+10 (tactical) +20 (space combat) - fail The shock of what happened, made Zack actually blank a little. Normally, he would have made more coolheaded decision... but seeing a fellow captain's ship destroyed, made him loose composture. "There is too much interference from the explosion to get good readings, sir!" One of the clones said. "The shuttles are launching!" The other exclaimed. "Sickbay is acknowledging the order!" "A team is prepared to help when the shuttles return!" The reports kept coming.
"Let them know we've arrived in the Quadrant, of course, and inform them we're available for assistance if necessary, but for now, we'll stay on our own." Sonya says calmly.
Victoria smiled reassuringly at their guest. “Do not worry, it will take more than a question to offend me. Come now, I can tell that there is something on your mind, so go ahead and ask, don't be afraid.” She tried to encourage Vegka.
"Yes Captain!" AM5 said as she quickly turned to her console. Soon, Sonya recieved the report. Three ships were currently checking the anomaly, two ships were checking the third planet - one with strong storms around it. The final ship from the fleet was checking the second planet with atmosphere. She also received a report about planets in the system that was being checked: 1st planet - close to the sun, high temperature on the surface. Possible minerals deposit. 2nd planet - atmosphere present. 3rd - atmosphere present - strong storms cover the surface - over 100 km per hour.
The woman hesitated, before finally asking the question. "If I might be so bold... What aspect do you represent?" She asked, then bowed her head. Spoiler: intelligence 7- fail As the question was asked, it left Victoria stomped... she did not know what the woman was talking about...
At first Victoria was left stumped, unsure what their guest meant. Aspect? But then she recalled how the natives had reacted to a blaster setting a tree on fire. Maybe she thinks I am an aspect of some goddess? If so... hmm, how should I handle this? Victoria sighed and looked at Vekga. “I get the feeling there has been a misunderstanding, not helped by us needing some time to translate the language used by your tribe. Let's start from the beginning. First tell me if your people have had other... visitors from the stars, similar to us.” In hindsight the captain wished she had asked that sooner. “Then explain what you mean by 'aspect'. I want to avoid any further... misunderstandings.”
The woman seemed to be slightly confused by Victoria's wording. "The first gods have descended from stars and thought us our ways... there are stories of various gods descending to mortal realm, joining in conflicts teaching us new ways... but there are no stories of recent commings of gods in living memory." She answered Victoria. "Forgive me o great one. When I asked about your aspect, I inquired about the domain you rule over... is it fire and light?" She asked.
