[Fan Fiction] Looking forward to the Mirror (Completed)

[Mr Bojangles]

@dragoongfa

I don't think you've taken a liberty with regards to Outsider humanity's CS expertise; not at all. I think you've hit upon a salient point and a question that has popped up pretty often in the forum. And that is "How has humanity almost reached the level of the Loroi so quickly?"

This is the point I made a ways back on this topic: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 261#p17261, with Arioch's point following immediately after. To paraphrase - it's not that humanity is smarter than everyone else, or that the other species are somehow less inventive, it's that humanity has incentivized rapid scientific and technological progression. And, as you point out, the efficient and quick dissemination of information to as many people as possible is key.

This incentivization is relatively new in human history. You have the right of it by mentioning the printing press. Its invention in the Age of Enlightenment pretty much marks the beginning of the world with which we are familiar. Prior to that, advancement occurred in fits and there was often regression as civilizations fell over the millennia. Outsider supposes it is that model that has remained prevalent amongst the alien cultures of the Local Bubble.

Since information sharing is so important to our progress, it's not surprise at all that our software would be so advanced. Making it easier to share and to consume confers the greatest benefit. You're spot on with regards to this aspect of humanity.

[Grayhome]

To paraphrase - it's not that humanity is smarter than everyone else, or that the other species are somehow less inventive, it's that humanity has incentivized rapid scientific and technological progression.

I would add that humanity has developed Democracy, a stable political/social structure to support this rapid progress. I would argue that such a political/social system is as vital, if not even more so, than developing the means to rapidly advance technology.

Then again I am a Political Scientist, so i am biased in that regard.

So humanity in this setting is a creative/democratic/charismatic species? That's so op, omfg nerf humanity plz.

[dragoongfa]

Chapter 7, part 3

“Thank you doctor, that will be all.” Captain Asteios said and closed the channel.

“Sir, I looked through the Loroi data and I think that I have found the reason as to why our systems can’t adapt it to our standards.” Sensors officer Lieutenant Richard Grant said when he saw that.

“Is that even possible? With completely alien data?” The Captain asked in disbelief.

“Yes sir, data of this kind is easy; the integration the Orgus jump, navigation and communications protocols to our computers without having to rewrite our entire systems was the hard part.” The Lieutenant replied.

“Interesting, so what is the problem and how do we fix it?”

“There are a lot of unknown words in the data and the system can’t comprehend it in order to archive everything in the ‘Pedia’ format. The problem should fix itself if we get the Loroi lexicon.” Lieutenant Grant replied.

“Lieutenant Vinica, please contact the Loroi and politely ask them for their lexicon.” Captain Asteios ordered.

“Yes sir.” The operations officer replied as the Captain stood up from his post and gestured his second in command to follow him in the captain’s sea cabin.

“Sir?” Commander Albert Summers asked when the door closed behind him.

“Our next course of action is to give aid to the stranded Loroi, hoping that this will help us when the official negotiations begin.” Captain Asteios said as he sat on his office’s chair.

“That would certainly help the diplomats at Prahbu but that is not the elephant in the room, is it?” The commander replied.

“Their telepathy and our apparent immunity to it.” The captain agreed.

“If that wasn’t in the way we would probably be another minor species dragged in this war but with it in the picture…” The commander sighed at that. “Our options have become extremely limited in scope.”

“That’s one way to put it.” Captain Asteios replied with a smirk. “The Loroi have committed two genocides already; one against a species which also had telepathic immunity. The other against a species that was officially allied with the Umiak.”

“We are already immune to their telepathy, if we ally with the Umiak as well then that only invites overwhelming Loroi retaliation.” Commander Summers agreed.

“Losing their telepathic advantage would be a huge blow to them; it’s obvious that their entire society revolves around it. Having someone who just negates that advantage… We have to ally with the Loroi; if only to avoid them turning Earth into a cratered ruin as a precaution.”

“The Umiak would certainly love to have it but…” The commander’s face turned sour as he thought that. “They have already failed to protect one of their allies; we can’t take that chance.”

“Would they even protect us? We are still hundreds of light years out of their way; would they send a fleet strong enough to protect us or would they just take enough test subjects and leave us hanging with just a token force? We know that the Loroi will come for us and they will do so with everything they have.” The captain pointed out.

“We have no choice…” Commander Summer’s face lit up as he thought of something. “Unless the Umiak are winning the war already.”

“If that’s the case then the picture changes but how do we figure it out? Propaganda is undoubtedly rampant on both sides; trying to get the truth out of them is a fool’s errand.” The captain shook his head at that. “We have to learn what we can from the Loroi, we need to catch a glimpse of how their morale and general state of affairs are standing. If they are near collapse then we can risk an alliance with the Umiak, knowing that any possible Loroi retaliation will come only if the Umiak waste their advantage and even then they won’t attack immediately, they will have to lick their wounds before going on the offensive again. If however the war is really at a stalemate…”

“We pick the Loroi praying that what their diplomat said about them sharing their technology is true. The longer the stalemate goes on and we remain hidden, the longer we will have to adapt the tech and build a defensive fleet.” The commander said and the captain chuckled.

“Almost an hour ago you said something completely different.”

“That hurts…” The Commander said with obvious self depreciation. “In hindsight it was foolish and in the end the knowledge of our telepathic immunity is of far greater concern than the value of anything that we might have gotten out of that ship.”

“A big anti matter explosion certainly doesn’t compare with anything…”

“You are going to always remind me of that aren't you?" Commander Summers asked and the Captain just nodded with a smirk. “Imagine how it would turn out if we had run into someone unreasonable.”

“Perhaps the same way but it would be us who would be forced to do something drastic.” Captain Asteios reminded him.

“Bad joke.” The commander agreed. "So we will give the Loroi one of our emergency generators?"

“We have two and one of them has been designed to be easily removable in case of an off-ship emergency.” The captain replied.

“And who would have thought that the emergency would be a stranded alien warship.” Commander Summer’s replied with a laugh. “And there is the diplomat’s offer to consider.”

“We can’t ask for something too valuable, I doubt that they would even consider giving us one their ship’s weapons or damaged drives.” Captain Asteios said after some thought. “At first I considered giving them the generator for humanitarian reasons but what if they see it as a sign of weakness?”

“Who knows… Maybe she said that in desperation or she wants to see how we would react to the offer.” The commander replied.

“They are good at selling themselves to potential allies however. Offering a fair trade of equipment could be their way of establishing some trust.” Captain Asteios thought out loud. “We also don’t want them to consider us subservient fools, we mustn’t show them that we are desperate to please them. We must establish early that in the case of an alliance certain boundaries will have to be respected.”

“Us making a fair trade would be perfect for making that clear.” Commander Summers agreed.

“It’s just an emergency generator and enough fuel to last for a while, what would be considered fair for that?”

“How about their medical device?” Commander Summers pointed out.

“That’s not fair, that’s outrageous.”

“Hear me out, we don’t offer just our generator. Our generator is just a life jacket for them, it will keep them going for some time but that won’t solve their problem. We also offer to alert their homebase, even taking some of them with us as passengers as we do so. In return we don’t ask them to give us the device but to let us examine it up close while explaining how the device works and the medical principles behind it. The only tangible thing that we will ask for is a copy of its software suit for studying.” Commander Summers explained.

“Hmm…” Captain Asteios scratched his chin as he thought of that. “We would get some info about the state of affairs from the passengers while getting on their government’s good graces. The doctor also said that plenty of people are researching regeneration tech back on Earth. Having a detailed description of a working device, the principles behind and its software suit could be enough for them to get one working. Sounds great on paper but would the Loroi go for it?”

“If we imply that Loroi would also benefit from us getting that technology, the diplomat will see it as us being interested in becoming their allies. With that in mind I don’t think that the diplomat would have a lot of inhibitions about us getting a glimpse of how that device works.” Commander Summers replied.

“And since we won’t be taking the damn thing with us it shouldn’t be much of an issue.” Captain Asteios agreed. “The marines won’t be able to do all this however; we will need to send some specialists and one of the two of us will have to go to negotiate in person for such a transaction.”

“You are the Captain so that leaves me.” Commander Summers said and the Captain just nodded.

“The doctor will have to go as well since she is the only one who will be able to make heads or tails about the medical side of things. An engineer to help the Loroi install the generator and to examine the Loroi regenerator and a code monkey for the software side of things.”

Chapter 8, part 1: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 254#p19254

[dragoongfa]

And this wraps up chapter 7.

I had to rewrite this btw; it just didn't feel write at first.

EDIT: I am still not 100% comfortable with it...

[Grayhome]

Awesome chapter! Voiced quite a few of my main concerns as well in it. Huh. Was not expecting that. Cannot wait for the next chapter, these are awesome to read!

[Logannion]

Thanks for the update. That was a nice read.

[Game Theory]

Hello there, i'm looking for fun projects that can help me sharpen my writing skills and was wondering if you would be willing to have me as your editor.

[dragoongfa]

Hello there, i'm looking for fun projects that can help me sharpen my writing skills and was wondering if you would be willing to have me as your editor.

I appreciate the offer but this project is my personal exercise in writing and self editing a novella/novel sized story.

I know that certain parts of the story could use some editing but what you see here is just the first draft; the finalized draft will be a single PDF file that will be edited to be like a printed book and will have certain minor additions to the story besides the various grammatical and typo corrections. It's something that I have to do for myself in its entirety.

I can offer you advice in PMs if you like; send one my way if you are interested.

[Sweforce]

Hello there, i'm looking for fun projects that can help me sharpen my writing skills and was wondering if you would be willing to have me as your editor.

I appreciate the offer but this project is my personal exercise in writing and self editing a novella/novel sized story.

I know that certain parts of the story could use some editing but what you see here is just the first draft; the finalized draft will be a single PDF file that will be edited to be like a printed book and will have certain minor additions to the story besides the various grammatical and typo corrections. It's something that I have to do for myself in its entirety.

I can offer you advice in PMs if you like; send one my way if you are interested.

Try to write something for my Loroitown thread maybe? Or some other new story.

[dragoongfa]

Chapter 8, part 1

Shadowcloud didn’t need to telepathically read the young Teidar who guarded the shuttle to know that she wouldn’t get past her unchallenged. Teidar Coldsword wasn’t one of her bodyguards, she was the security officer of Silverspear and thus she answered only to Soroin Torret Darkwing, who now used the shuttle as he personal cabin in order to keep herself isolated and in her thoughts. Fortunately she saw this coming and brought Razormist with her, since the Sezon’s presence could be enough to have the young Teidar stand down peacefully.

“I can’t let you in Mizol Torrimor Shadowcloud.” The Teidar sent to her, her telepathic tone a welcome mix of challenge and respect.

“It is important that I speak face to face with the captain of this vessel, Soroin Torret Darkwing.” Shadowcloud replied with her usual authoritarian tone, as was befit for her rank; however she did add a sentiment of deference towards the Teidar.

“The captain has ordered that she is not to be disturbed as long as aliens are aboard her vessel.” Coldsword replied, this time her tone filled with a mix of challenge and curiosity about what was going on.

“These aliens will provide assistance that will be pivotal in accomplishing our mission and I need the approval of Silverspear’s captain in order to secure that assistance.” Shadowcloud replied, hoping that it would be enough to sate Coldsword’s curiosity. Many Mizol thought of the Teidar as a simplistic and monolithic caste, truth be told she could see why the others would think of them in such a way and she used to think so herself up until her first daughter became one. Starwind was a very strong telekinetic, almost as strong as she was but she didn’t inherit her eidetic memory. Although she wanted her daughters to also become Mizols, she was convinced by her elders to send her firstborn to the Teidars. They said that it would help improve the relationship between the two castes especially since the Teidar wanted Shadowcloud for themselves at the first place. She thought that her daughter would emerge a fool out of her diral band but the young warrior whose hair she cut was not a fool. She was a magnificent sight to behold; strong, proud and with an unbending intellectual mind that awed lesser ones. She knew from that day onward that the Teidar were no fools, a foolish caste would not train such a warrior.

“How can a Shell trick offer us any short of assistance?” The young Teidar asked, her tone still challenging and curious but also…hopeful.

“I am convinced that they are not a Shell trick but I cannot disclose to you how I came to be convinced.” Shadowcloud replied with confidence, drawing a nod of understanding from Coldsword who turned her gaze to Razormist.

“Teidar Sezon Razormist, do you vouch for Mizol Torrimor Shadowcloud?” The young Teidar sent to both of them and Shadowcloud fought back a smile because of what that meant.

“Mizol Torrimor Shadowcloud is a loyal warrior in Emperor Greywind’s service. Her words are true and her actions aimed solely against our enemies.” Razormist replied truthfully and Coldsword nodded again.

“Teidar Sezon Razormist vouches for you and I deem your reasons acceptable.” Coldsword sent to her and stepped aside. “She has been through a lot, please do not add to her suffering.” The young Teidar pleaded to her as she passed in front of her.

“We are all suffering Teidar and this war will only make it worse.” Shadowcloud replied as she left Coldsword and Razormist standing outside the shuttle’s airlock.
The shuttle was almost empty, with only a makeshift bed being an indication that the passenger area was lived in. Spreading her mind a little she sensed Darkwing’s unstable signature in the cockpit.

“I ordered to be left alone.” Darkwing sent to her when she took the first step towards the cockpit. Her telepathic tone filled with pain, anguish and drug induced light headedness.

“Teidars are not fools that blindly obey orders, they always did what they had to do in order to win the wars they were fighting.” Shadowcloud replied dryly as she overrode the locked door and stepped inside the cockpit.

“Doing what they have to… easy for them and you Mizols to say!” Darkwing replied with derision. The Soroin Torret was sitting at the pilot’s seat, not even bothering to turn it to face her.

“Everyone has their burdens to carry.” Shadowcloud replied with the same dry tone as she sat at the co-pilot’s seat next to Silverspear’s captain.

“Yet some carry far more than others!” Darkwing snapped at her.

“The burdens of command are heavy and cursed.” Shadowcloud agreed.

“What do you know about command Mizol?” Darkwing telepathically yelled at her as she turned her seat to face her. The telepathic shock from the yell pity inducing instead of it being bothersome.

“I led my diral through the darkest jungles of Perrein. I have led warriors to their deaths for centuries and I have led assaults on traitor and alien strongholds throughout this war.” Shadowcloud replied and looked at the crippled Soroin who stared at her with her sole remaining eye. The burned out scars had turned her face into a mess beyond recognition, her nose and left eye were gone as well as half of her scalp, the other half miraculously untouched and her remaining bright blond hair were frizzled and unkempt. Without thinking Shadowcloud glanced at the stumps that used to be Darkwing’s left arm and left leg.

“And how many times have you failed in your duties?” Darkwind asked angrily.

“I am still alive.”

“Indeed you are!” The Soroin yelled at her.

“So is everyone on this ship.” Shadowcloud pointed out.

“Less than half than those we left port with, with a ship beyond repair, our squadron completely destroyed and our mission failed! And now Shell tricksters are running loose on this ship with your permission and you are wasting our energy reserves to entertain them! I can’t even comprehend why the others don’t act on your obvious cowardice.” It was pitiful to see her like this but Shadowcloud didn’t allow that thought to come to the surface.

“The mission is still on the line and they are not Umiak constructs, nor do I think that they are their agents.” Shadowcloud said with a steady and truthful tone.

“I never thought that such an old warrior would be such a fool and a coward that she would convince herself that an enemy trick is real!” Darkwing yelled angrily and Shadowcloud decided that she had enough.

“How many times have you given birth Darkwing?” Shadowcloud asked as if she hadn’t received the last telepathic message.

“Six times, all females.”

“How many of them pre war?”

“One.”

“I have given birth 12 times, 11 warriors and one male. Four of them pre-war. I gave birth to my first after I became a Parat, almost a century and a half ago, back then limited access to males made it forbidding for even someone with my abilities to have enough time with a male for conception. I was convinced to give her to the Teidar and I thought her lost because of that. I thought that she would end up a fool but when her time at her diral came to an end and I was called to cut her hair, all I saw was a magnificent warrior.” Shadowcloud said full of pride.

“Mine are all Soroins but I know the feeling.” Darkwing commented with palpable confusion.

“I hadn’t seen her for years and I knew that I wouldn’t see her for quite some time after her graduation but in the little time I had to speak with her I was proud of her, proud to call her my daughter and she was proud of me being her mother. I gave birth three more times before the war, a Mizol, a Listel and the male. After my first I didn’t have any trepidation as to how my daughters would turn up; I knew that they would all become worthy warriors despite their caste and that I would be proud of them. I realized that if they put the Union above caste there would be no reason to worry about them or even feel offense when other warriors would insult me as a way to get to them. If only there weren’t plenty of fools prevalent in other castes…”

“What does it have…” Darkwing begun but with a slight telepathic shout she cut her off and stunned her. The crippled Soroin tried to put her mental defenses up but even if she was fully lucid there would be no way for her to defend herself from Shadowcloud’s mental assault.

“I still remember the day Greywind led the Mizol delegation that asked for imperial clearance to initiate in depth investigations in the Umiak Hierarchy. I still remember the laughter and the insults from the Emperor and the Diadem. It is impossible for me to forget that. I remembered that laughter when the war started, I remembered it when the Shells overrun planet after planet and I remembered it when I was informed that my first born daughter was trapped on one of those planets. Some fools say that we Mizol were happy when we were proven right and when we heard about Eighth Dawn's death in battle. I did feel some satisfaction when I heard of Eighth Dawn’s death and I did enjoy killing the traitorous profiteering scum that rebelled after Greywind’s ascension to the throne but if it meant that my pride and joy would still be alive I would have served Eighth Dawn and her ilk gladly. My firstborn is dead, so are those who didn’t let us uncover the Umiak preparations for all out war.” She pressed her mental attack further, effectively pinning Darkwing's mind and overwhelming her completely.

“If only those traitorous fools were the only ones. I and plenty of others openly objected to the end goals of the Tithric campaign. We told everyone that it would make us look like monsters, that it would alienate our allies and risk their continued support; but the Diadem and the Assembly were full of bloodthirsty idiots. They only wanted the Tithric scum obliterated and our flanks secure for Semoset. The aliens seeing what we would do to our enemies was a just bonus for them. And I was a… fool for not seeing how the Tithric campaign would be the reason of the Semoset disaster. We knew that the Shells practically enslave their client races. We should have realized that because of this they had to maintain substantial garrison forces as an incentive of loyalty for the subjugated population. Those subjugated populations reacted the moment they learned that we had broken through the Shell front lines but they didn’t revolt against the Shells; they practically begged them to protect them from the Loroi butchers; they gave hostages, supplies to their own detriment and even promised increased quotas as long as we were kept away from them. It’s better to be a slave than dead and certain fools made sure to convince them that we would kill them all.” Shadowcloud shook her head and her telepathic tone got darker.

“The Shells were able to use their numerous garrison fleets in battle without having to worry about revolts and we lost a third of our fleet when Sunfall’s forces were surrounded, overwhelmed and destroyed. Many of our best and brightest warriors died with Sunfall, including three more of my daughters. The Shells killed my daughters, they were preparing to kill them from the moment we came in contact with them and the worse thing is that they are good at killing us. I hate them, there is no hiding or quenching of the hatred I feel for them; I sing to my daughters about killing Shells while they are still in my belly and I whisper to them how to kill Shells and how to make them suffer for a while whenever I am able to visit them at their creches.” Shadowcloud smiled as she recalled something. “I always make sure that one of the things that my daughters hear before they are born is the cracking sound of a living Shell as I crush it into a pulp next to my swollen belly.” Shadowcloud took a sour expression and her tone became acidic before continuing.

“There are fools however that don’t want to see the Shells dead. The same kind of fools as the ones who didn’t allow us to uncover the Shell preparations, the same kind of fools as the ones who thought themselves invincible, the same kind of fools as the ones who aided our enemies to just see some Shell lackeys dead.” The Mizol stood up and glared at the helpless Soroin that sat in front of her.

“These fools have a tendency to end up dead, one way or the other. I killed many of them myself actually. Now you have a choice. You can be a fool that blames herself about the ill fortunes of war that have struck her command; or you can act like a warrior again and see this mission through to the end. The human Lotai is… troubling, there is no denying that, while there is much that we don’t know about them. I am convinced that they are not a Shell trick but that doesn’t mean anything other than that. What happens to them is the Emperor’s decision but no fool is going to stop me from using them to accomplish this mission.” At that moment she stopped her telepathic assault and eyed the crippled Soroin coldly.

“Who are you?” Shadowcloud asked with her most authoritarian tone. “Who are you?” She yelled telepathically at Darkwing when she failed to reply quickly enough.

“I am…Soroin…Torret…Darkwing.” The hapless Loroi managed to say as she re oriented herself from the telepathic hit.

“Good, who do you serve?”

“The Emperor…of the Union.” Darkwing replied far more coherent this time.

“Will you let anyone or anything come between you and the accomplishment of your mission?”

“No!” Darkwing snapped back at her.

“Good, get your crutch and follow me to the med bay. You have punished yourself enough and I need you to be presentable for our guests.”

Chapter 8, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 322#p19322

[dragoongfa]

The beginning of Chapter 8 should also mark me touching the 50% mark of the story. The outline I have in my head is for 16 chapters which with the current word count will bring the total to around 60.000 words, which brings this little fan fic well into novel length.

[dragoongfa]

Chapter 8, part 2

Listel Sininran Sulfur was thankful that Shadowcloud handled the introductions with the new group of humans. There were four of them, two males and two females and out of the six human marines only their squad leader, Lieutenant Allerberger, remained aboard Silverspear.

Thanks to the small umbilical that the humans installed they all arrived without wearing spacesuits. The new group wore the same uniform, sea blue trousers and jacket, with a golden turtleneck that accompanied the minor golden decorative stripes on the jacket’s shoulders and neck. The jacket was also adorned with numerous colorful decorative patches; her first thought was that they were some sort of insignia but all of them had the exact same patches with the exception of a small scripted patch on their left chest, which undoubtedly was their written name.

Lieutenant Allerberger, who had quickly changed into his own uniform before the human shuttle left, wore an entirely different uniform. He wore white trousers, with a black coat and a black beret. Unlike the others he didn’t have any patches on his coat, only the name patch on his left chest with numerous decorative ribbons right below it. His beret had a patch of a trident at the front, which stood right above his left eye. A single six edged golden star decorated the top of each of each of his shoulders, probably rank insignia. His uniform however wasn’t the only thing that set him apart from the others, he was far more muscular that the other two human males who in turn where obviously more muscular than their females who for all intents and purposes were almost identical to them.

The two females were what drew the most attention, even away from the males. Instinctively even she thought them as opponents, up until Lieutenant Allerberger came back and put things in perceptive. One of the females, the older one judging by the minor signs of aging, was undoubtedly a medic as the first thing she did when she got out of the airlock was to go and inspect the marine they had healed, obviously disbelieving what she was seeing. She had auburn hair, tied in a short ponytail at the back of her head and she had the same pinkish color as most of the humans they had seen so far but her breasts seemed oversized to her eyes. The other one was younger and carried a small suitcase that contained various electronic devices which the humans swore that were necessary to record everything. This one was obviously younger than the other one, with short brown hair, a slightly brownish skin color and a body build that looked identical to a Loroi female's.

Thankfully Shadowcloud didn’t let diplomatic niceties get in the way of precaution, she had made it clear from early on that not one of them would be allowed to carry weapons aboard Silverspear again and she had made sure to have guards posted at the human airlock and for Soroin squads to patrol the rest of the ship, all of them fully armored.

Now Shadowcloud led the human delegation with two of her Teidars as escort and her by her side and still Sulfur couldn’t help but feel uneasy about everything.

“Don’t worry Listel, I don’t think that they mean us any harm and they wouldn’t live long enough if they did try anything.” Shadowcloud sent to her with a reassuring tone.

“It’s not just that…” Sulfur replied. "The fact that we can’t sense them and feel their minds does make everyone uneasy but it’s how they look that is really disconcerting."

“It would certainly be easier for us if they didn’t look like this but we both know something that the others don’t.” Shadowcloud reminded her.

“It’s also how their two sexes are set up. They look exactly like us and I know that they are as alien as the rest but the moment their females came into view I immediately sized them up as opponents.” Sulfur explained.

“I did so as well before remembering that naked male and how some of them looked at us. From the way the males carry themselves I believe that they traditionally protect their females.” Shadowcloud commented.

“We protect our males and whoever attacks one gets severely punished if she is lucky enough not to get killed by those present. Would their males react the same way?” Sulfur wondered.

“Perhaps they would but we also look like their females and… I don’t want to find out how both sides would react to physical violence with each other. For now let’s treat them all with respect while making sure not to let any bias creep into our behavior. They are aliens and we must handle them as such despite our natural inclinations.” Shadowcloud replied.

“How did Needle react to the human male?” Sulfur asked.

“She was overwhelmed. She is young and obviously bright but…” Shadowcloud begun to reply but it was obvious she didn’t believe what she was about to send. “No that male was indeed overwhelming. His facial features were soft and fair, just like our males but the way he was built was nothing like our males. He was a warrior and yet both of us failed to see him for that because of his male attributes. Needle didn’t even speak because she was afraid that she would embarrass herself in front of a male if she said something the wrong way. Then there were his size and muscles; no sane Loroi will ever choose to fight such a human male in hand to hand combat.”

“His squad leader looks older and rougher but he is obviously as well built as he was.” Sulfur commented.

“Still the similarity is there. If we have enough time after the demonstration I would like to have some small talk with them in order to get a look of their general outlook.”

“Will Soroin Torret Darkwing really be okay?” Sulfur asked in response.

“She is a warrior, I hope that she remembers what that means when she is whole again.” Shadowcloud then cut the conversation off as they reached their destination.

“Commander Summers, this is the conference room I told you about.” The Mizol said as she stopped in front of an open door and gestured inside.

“I understand.” The human officer replied as he and his team walked inside while the two Teidars stood guard just outside. Sulfur remembered that this particular room was used as the gathering place for the high ranking Soroin to discuss caste matters in relative privacy; that usually involved intense exchanges and even some sparring to vent their frustrations. Shadowcloud had made sure that the room was presentable and properly prepared before they got there.

“Please sit.” The Mizol said as she gestured to the five chairs that were arranged on one side of a long table; three more chairs were arranged at the other side as well. “As I told you earlier I would like to explain and demonstrate out telepathic abilities, in order for you to know what we Loroi are and aren’t capable of doing. This is a standard diplomatic procedure when contacting species that are unfamiliar with us.” With that the Mizol gestured to her to sit at one of the three empty chairs.

“We would appreciate such a demonstration as well. Will you answer any questions we may have?” Commander Summers asked.

“Of course.” Shadowcloud said as she sat next to Sulfur. “The easiest from all the forms of our telepathy to understand and the one you have witnessed firsthand; our Sanzai, the ability to telecommunicate. This ability is really split in two parts, sending and receiving. We can send and receive thoughts from a distance, with the distance itself being highly dependent on how strong and capable the sender is. Sending is like speech; it’s the transmission of properly articulated thoughts and emotions. To do this we have been trained from a very young age to properly construct our raw thoughts before sending them since the sending of raw thoughts is inherently irritating, inefficient and is seen as childish. This structuring however doesn’t mean that we hide or alter those thoughts in any meaningful way. We just send our thoughts in a truthful, coherent and efficient manner that is at least twice as quick as verbal speech. Skilled telepaths are of course capable of playing with their thoughts before sending them to hide something and even lie in a limited way but that is highly frowned up and impossible to do if the sender and the receiver are touching each other. Touching each other provides more bandwidth for sending and receiving, enough of it to completely read all surface thoughts and emotions. With this in mind it is easy to understand why touching each other is seen as a taboo for us and is only done between close friends or for certain caste functions. There are two types of sending, targeted and broadcasted. In targeted we send only to the individual we want to contact and in broadcasted to everyone within sending range. To receive a sending a Loroi has to allow the sender’s message inside their mind through our mental barriers. It is possible to choose not to listen to someone’s message by not letting it through but this is seen as rude when the sender is not an enemy. Sending is done in particular telepathic frequencies and with a set amount of telepathic strength in order not to cause discomfort to the receiver. Everyone has a distinct sending signature, which is highly dependent on ones personality and emotions; some of us have what is perceived to be irritating sending signatures but with time, training and experience it is possible to correct that. Do you have any question in regards to sending and receiving?”

“You said that to receive you have to allow the message to pass into your mind; does this mean that someone can cut themselves completely off?” Commander Summers asked.

“No, the mental barriers we have are there to cut off telepathic noise. These barriers can be as strong as the telepath raising them is but they can be overwhelmed with brute force. If a particular strong telepath decides to send a strong telepathic shout to someone, that shout will pass through the barriers. Such sendings are overwhelming and dangerous to others, they are rightfully considered to be a form of attack by us and those who do it without cause are punished. The same thing can happen if a large number of telepaths send a message to someone at the exact same time.” Shadowcloud replied and after a few moments the younger of the two females, Lieutenant Vinica, leaned towards Commander Summers and whispered something to him in their tongue. For a moment Sulfur sensed some irritation from Shadowcloud, the Mizol’s social instincts belching from the sight of a female speaking through a male instead of speaking her own mind like a warrior should. After that she felt a self centered irritation from her after the realization that humans obviously did things differently and this could just be a subordinate informing her commander about something.

“The way you put it sounds like how computers work, with stronger computers being able to overwhelm weaker ones and with many weaker ones being able to do the same to a stronger one.” Commander Summers commented after the human female finished telling him whatever she told him.

“That’s a very apt and accurate comparison.” Shadowcloud replied and the human officer nodded before asking another question.

“With how many people can someone communicate simultaneously with targeted sending?”

“That heavily depends on one's strength and skills. Even the weakest telepaths can send the same message to at least three targeted individuals but the more people you target the more taxing the sending becomes in an exponential manner. The real problem lies with receiving from multiple people, comprehending each different message and replying correctly to each sender. Due to this most friendly conversations between a small group of friends revolve around five to six individuals and even those tend to be a little chaotic.” The Mizol replied and the human officer nodded.

“Does this mean that you can follow two different conversations at the same time?”

“It is possible but it requires skill in order to not be confused by two different lines of thought.” Commander Summers then looked at the other humans before replying.

“That’s all the questions we have for now.”

“The next telepathic ability and one of its key aspects is sensing. We Loroi can sense every advanced lifeform up to a certain distance that is wholly dependent on ones telepathic strength. In general, the more advanced a species's higher brain system is, the easier it is for us to detect. Sensing is what we use to identify people who we want to communicate with via targeted sending. Sensing also allows us to read surface emotions and thoughts even from a distance but what we sense is not always accurate especially if the one we sense has been trained in mental discipline. If we want to make sure that what we sense from anyone is accurate then we have to touch them. I already explained to you comrade, Lieutenant Allerberger, that touching allows us to bypass mental barriers and negate telepathic limitations.” Shadowcloud paused at that point and sighed. “Normally this would be the point that I would ask for a volunteer to showcase sensing and sensing one’s mind via touching. I would ask the volunteer to think of something then I would sense what they were thinking and tell them what they thought.”

“I imagine that it would be quite unnerving for them.” Commander Summers commented.

“Indeed; some of us tend to find such reactions to be humorous.”

“I believe that we would also offer a spectacle but I think this won't happen with us.”

“That’s true, you are completely impervious to Sensing. We can’t sense you even from up close nor can we sense your thoughts and emotions when we touch you. Out of all the species that we have come in contact with you are the only one with this trait. Even the Mannadi, who many believe that are immune to our sensing, are detectable from up close and we can sense everything when we touch them.” Shadowcloud replied.

“Do you have any theory as to why this is the case with us? Especially considering how similar we are both in appearance and in other areas?” Commander Summers asked instantly.

“Nothing concrete, it comes to the surprise of many aliens but we Loroi don’t know how our telepathy works. We cannot detect it with technological means nor figure out why we have it. Some of us believe it to be some sort of divine gift; most of us take it as proof that we are the rightful heirs of the Soian empire, who were indeed telepaths as we have found out by researching their ruins.” Shadowcloud replied and Sulfur immediately realized that she intentionally moved the topic away from the physical similarity.

“We have only recently heard about the Soian empire and we have never come across any of their ruins. Are you somehow related to them?” Commander Summers asked and Sulfur immediately sensed disbelief from the Mizol next to her.

“Many species share a relation with the Soians, beyond our telepathy it’s not something that is unique on us.” Another deflection Sulfur realized. “The Soians were so widespread that I have trouble believing that you have only recently heard of them.” The Mizol pressed for what many believe to be an impossibility, especially with what Sulfur had found out in the human data.

“It’s true, we first heard about them from the Orgus refugees who themselves were perplexed that we didn’t have any knowledge about them and that we didn’t even speak the Trade language. They told us that all sentient species had legends about them and that plenty of planets were littered with the ruins of their civilization.” Commander Summers replied.

“The Soians indeed dominated the local bubble for an extended period of time, their legacy has shaped the local bubble into what it is now.” Shadowcloud said and frowned. “If what you say is true and you didn’t know Trade until very recently how come you are so fluent with it?”

“We don’t believe that we are that fluent but the Orgus have been teaching us Trade since they made contact with us, almost two years ago.”

“Two years?”

“I am sorry…” Commander Summers looked at the young female who immediately took out what looked like a small tablet computer from one of her pockets and tapped some commands on it before whispering something to her commanding officer. “An year is almost as long as your Tozon.”

“So your species didn’t have any knowledge of the Soians and the Trade language until two tozon’s ago?” Shadowcloud asked.

“That is correct.”

“Could a species master Historian Trade in under two Tozons?” Shadowcloud sent to Sulfur without looking at her.

“It is possible and if we take their rough pronouncement into consideration this may be the case.” Sulfur replied.

“What about their data?”

“I was curious about it and looked at it’s metadata, which was surprisingly easy to find, it showed that the data was compiled six nanapis ago.” Shadowcloud nodded as if responding to the human.

“I have to say that your mastery of the Trade language is impressive, considering the limited time you had to learn it. Now do you have any questions in regards to sensing?”

“Yes, what is the range in which you can normally sense someone?” Commander Summers asked.

“It varies according to each individual’s telepathic strength but on average 130 mannals.” Shadowcloud replied and Commander Summers instantly looked at the young female who gave him an answer after checking her device.

“What’s the range of the strongest telepaths.” The human asked after he got an answer.

“I am glad that you asked because this would be the next subject that I would cover. There are dedicated castes of very strong telepaths whose members can on their own, sense and send messages across planets; but their sending is dangerous and is only used between members of their castes with lots of precautions. If amplified their sensing can easily reach interstellar ranges. This is widely known among all species that have come in contact with us but we don’t share details about this ability other that it does exist.” Commander Summers visibly became uncomfortable with that.

“That is a very potent ability.” He said after a few moments.

“It is indeed. Now the next subject I wanted to cover is amplification. Telepathic amplification is a technology which we managed to recover from Soian ruins and successfully reverse engineer. The amplifiers themselves don’t offer any new telepathic abilities but they multiply the potency of all existing abilities. They have their drawbacks but castes that rely on telepathy are not afraid to use them when needed.” Shadowcloud raised her hand and touched her amplifier with her pointer. “This is my amplifier, I am considered a very strong telepath and as you can guess by its size I have chosen an amplifier that multiplies these abilities by a large degree.”

“We… thought that it was some kind of jewelry, something to highlight rank or seniority status.” Commander Summers replied as he looked at Lieutenant Allerberger.

“The fact that you didn’t know about amplifiers and Teidars is one of the main reasons I was convinced that you are who and what you said you are.” Shadowcloud said as a matter of fact. “The final ability that I have to explain and showcase is telekinesis. Individuals with telekinesis are rare and vary greatly in strength. Regardless of their parental backgrounds, telekinetics are automatically inducted into one of two castes, the Teidar or the Mizol; with the strongest ones usually going to the combat oriented Teidars whose abilities in battle, especially when using amplifiers, have classified them as the best warfighters of the local bubble.” Shadowcloud said and smiled when she saw Lieutenant Allerberger move uncomfortably on his chair while glancing at the closed door which was guarded by two Teidars at the other side. “As I said the fact that you didn’t know about Teidars played a great part in convincing me that you are genuine and it helped immensely in defusing the situation when we realized that your marines were aboard our ship.”

“I am… glad to hear that.” Lieutenant Alleberger commented.

"Don’t worry, few are comfortable around Teidars and those are almost always fools." Shadowcloud replied with a smirk before continuing. “Telekinesis can be used on people whose position can be precisely sensed, which means that everyone within sensing range can be telekinetically targeted. If someone wants to use telekinesis on an inanimate object then they have to be able see the object in question and know its precise distance between themselves and it.” Shadowcloud then stood up and stood behind her chair. “I am a telekinetic and I am considered to be among the strongest telekinetics. Now please don’t be alarmed as I am about to demonstrate my abilities.” With that the chair Shadowcloud was sitting just a few moments ago rose up in the air and remained motionless just above the table. The humans seemed awestruck at the sight of the levitating chair with Lieutenant Allerberger being also alarmed to it.

“Many telekinetic adepts can move themselves in the air as if flying.” Shadowcloud said as she moved the chair back to its position and sat on it again. “Telepathy and Telekinesis don’t cause any feedback to us and don’t seem to follow the laws of physics in regards of needing some form of energy in order to move an object. A telekinetic can use their abilities as long as they can concentrate enough to use them. As with telepathy, we don’t know how telekinesis works or what makes a telekinetic stronger than another one. Potent telekinetics can also be trained to cause rapid increase in molecular movement in objects, effectively increasing an object's temperature until it bursts in flames or even melt.” Shadowcloud’s satisfaction from the human expressions was so radiant that Sulfur didn’t even need to sense her. “Do you have any questions?”

* * *

God given lexicon:

The mannal or "pace" is 0.776 meters.
The nanapi is 241.92 hours (10.08 Earth days).


Chapter 8, part 3: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 427#p19427

[dragoongfa]

Delayed a couple of day due to RL stuff coming in the way. Which reminds me that I cannot offer two entries in one week because frankly my time is still somewhat limited and because I have to also write my original fic story that will have to take priority for the time being. Still the weekly schedule for this story will be kept until it is over or until my summer vacations, whichever comes first

Also, forgot to ask God for two words

PS: 3650 words and it still is not the end of chapter 8, it looks like the 50% mark will be big.

[Grayhome]

First off, excellent chapter! Second off, nope.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. The Loroi do not get to pull this shit and get away with it without a penalty.

“Do you have any questions?”, asks the Loroi.

"Well yes, I have a question." Responds the human diplomat. "Given that you have just admitted that you have brought a loaded, concealed, biological (assassin's) weapon to the first diplomatic meeting between our two peoples and you have it pointed at the back of our heads at all times, can you please tell me why should I not leave you people to die in the cold vacuum of space?"

No. NO. The Loroi do NOT get to get away with that without a MASSIVE penalty dragoonfa. This is the sort of shit that makes the diplomatic party WALK OUT OF THE ROOM AND JOIN THE OPOSING FACTION. AUTOMATICALLY. The Loroi can NOT just wave this shit away like they did the stabbing of one of their human rescuers.

I'm talking major concessions here, RIGHT NOW. As in the Loroi hand over all data regarding their psi-tech, their psi-warrior castes, and even the psi-warriors themselves for testing. Humanity receives all data regarding psionics and psi-tech that the Loroi possess. Period. End of conversation.

Any human diplomat worth two cents would demand that much at the very least, and if the Loroi balk in the slightest, then the human diplomats calmly explains to the Loroi that humanity can very easily go to the Umiak Hierarchy and get all the relevant information they desire. Information which I am certain the Umiak would be delighted to provide for free. This would of course include live Loroi test subjects which the Umiak would have millions of.

This is a major fuck up on the Loroi's part and they need to understand this kind of shit wont fly. Period. No excuses, explanations or rationalizations accepted. At all. The humans would NOT be forgiving of such a blatant and obvious threat at a time when EVERY LOROI LIFE ON THAT SHIP DEPENDS ENTIRELY UPON HUMANITY'S ASSISTANCE, especially when the humans can walk away at any time and have already forgiven their rescuees for STABBING ONE OF THEM. The Loroi do not get to simply talk their way out of this one, I don't care how well this Mizol is trained or how old she is. The Loroi, as a species, need to understand that this behavior will not be tolerated.

If the Loroi act like this when their lives are entirely dependent upon humanity's goodwill, I can not even imagine what their behavior would be like when their lives are not entirely dependent upon humanity's goodwill.

[Argron]

I was going to re-read the whole thing before comenting, because I spotted some tiny mistakes, but I'll do that later. Simply want to say that I look forward to your next piece during the long days without Outsider updates lol, the world Arioch created is fascinating and your story is awesome. Take your time and thanks for writing it at all

@Grayhome: by that standard the humans brought a concealed weapon to the negotiations, after all they are strong soldiers which are trained in hand to hand combat, and the other side in the negotiations are built like normal females that have never seen how strong they truly are. He could get close to any of them for whatever excuse and knock down and/or kill her easily. There's a reason a trained person's bare hands are qualified as a lethal weapon by law.
Telekinesis is as part of that diplomat's body as much as the man's muscles, but just like his fists, she kept it "sheated" and not pointed at anyone. If anything, she explained way more than was necessary for a first contact to soften relations as much as possible, but I have no idea of such matters.
Also, humanity is in no position to threaten, and even broken the loroi ship can likely lay waste to the human vessel just with its point defence lasers.

Regarding the wounded human, although they had good intentions they still assaulted a foreign military vessel without receiving permission from its occupants. Not saying humans were wrong since they tried everything in their power , but considering what the Loroi had been through in the war till now, in the previous battle, and the tension they had at that point, preparing for inevitable death one way or another, a stabbing by mistake meant the marines got off easy.

[Grayhome]

@Grayhome: by that standard the humans brought a concealed weapon to the negotiations, after all they are strong soldiers which are trained in hand to hand combat, and the other side in the negotiations are built like normal females that have never seen how strong they truly are. He could get close to any of them for whatever excuse and knock down and/or kill her easily. There's a reason a trained person's bare hands are qualified as a lethal weapon by law.
Telekinesis is as part of that diplomat's body as much as the man's muscles, but just like his fists, she kept it "sheated" and not pointed at anyone. If anything, she explained way more than was necessary for a first contact to soften relations as much as possible, but I have no idea of such matters.

That comment is so inane I'm... I'm having trouble formatting a calm and rational reply to it. Again, I reiterate that the Loroi brought a concealed, loaded, lethal weapon into an official diplomatic meeting. I call upon the intelligence and fair minded nature of the forum to examine this fact.

Also, humanity is in no position to threaten, and even broken the loroi ship can likely lay waste to the human vessel just with its point defence lasers.

Please examine what you are writing here. You are saying that the Loroi are capable/justified in murdering the diplomatic envoys who have offered to save their lives. That action is completely insane to any rational thinking person.

Regarding the wounded human, although they had good intentions they still assaulted a foreign military vessel without receiving permission from its occupants. Not saying humans were wrong since they tried everything in their power , but considering what the Loroi had been through in the war till now, in the previous battle, and the tension they had at that point, preparing for inevitable death one way or another, a stabbing by mistake meant the marines got off easy.

... I'm sorry, did you just declare that the Loroi were entirely within their rights to murder the people that are saving their lives? The humans who are, by the very courageous and selfless act of offering to save the Loroi, not only placing their own lives in jeopardy but the lives of every human in existence? That is insane. The Loroi have already been shown almost superhuman levels of understanding and forgiveness by their Human... saviors. I hesitate to use the word, it sounds so cheesy but in this case I believe it fits fairly well.

I have come to expect neigh ridiculous levels of support/defense from this forum on the topic of what basically amounts to crimes against sentient life by the Loroi. But this series of barely competent and poorly thought out... mental gymnastics is by far the most incomprehensible gibberish I have yet read.

The comparison of psychokinetic abilities alone (neigh infinite range, bypass armor, invisible, potentially tons of force etc) to a mans flailing fists is so... completely ridiculous that I can barely believe you made the comparison. I suggest you reread the Outsider Insider section on Loroi Psychokinetic and Telepathic abilities again. If they were even remotely equal in terms of killing power the Delrias would not have lost their war with the Loroi.

A very disappointing response to my comment. Very disappointing indeed. I implore anyone else who wishes to respond to my comments to type up a better thought out riposte, and use spell check please. That was painful to read.

[dragoongfa]

First off, excellent chapter! Second off, nope.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. The Loroi do not get to pull this shit and get away with it without a penalty.

“Do you have any questions?”, asks the Loroi.

"Well yes, I have a question." Responds the human diplomat. "Given that you have just admitted that you have brought a loaded, concealed, biological (assassin's) weapon to the first diplomatic meeting between our two peoples and you have it pointed at the back of our heads at all times, can you please tell me why should I not leave you people to die in the cold vacuum of space?"

No. NO. The Loroi do NOT get to get away with that without a MASSIVE penalty dragoonfa. This is the sort of shit that makes the diplomatic party WALK OUT OF THE ROOM AND JOIN THE OPOSING FACTION. AUTOMATICALLY. The Loroi can NOT just wave this shit away like they did the stabbing of one of their human rescuers.

Now imagine what it's like for all other alien species out there that didn't found out about this 'peacefully'.

The reason this whole demonstration was invented was exactly this, to put their abilities right out in the open early. For the initial shock to be passed as soon as possible while telling the aliens that the Loroi didn't hide anything from them.

I'm talking major concessions here, RIGHT NOW. As in the Loroi hand over all data regarding their psi-tech, their psi-warrior castes, and even the psi-warriors themselves for testing. Humanity receives all data regarding psionics and psi-tech that the Loroi possess. Period. End of conversation.

Loroi: Genocidal and over teched superpower. Humans are not exactly in the position to demand anything and I think that some people have already realized what would happen if humanity ended up with the Umiaks.

The diplomatic advantage the humans have is temporary in this situation. The Loroi ship is stranded but the Loroi Union is still what it is while Shadowcloud may be an influential intelligence officer with somewhat rusty diplomatic skills but she still has to act as an emissary of the Loroi Union and there are hundreds of just as capable Mizols out there to replace her. She knows that she has the backing of the Loroi fleet and she knows that the relations between Humanity and the Loroi will be at first problematic, especially with the most militant Loroi at the Diadem instantly asking for a pre-emptive Tithric like campaign.

Any human diplomat worth two cents would demand that much at the very least, and if the Loroi balk in the slightest, then the human diplomats calmly explains to the Loroi that humanity can very easily go to the Umiak Hierarchy and get all the relevant information they desire. Information which I am certain the Umiak would be delighted to provide for free. This would of course include live Loroi test subjects which the Umiak would have millions of.

Extra incentive for the Loroi to use even more bombs on Earth even if it is the last thing they will do before extinction at the hands of the Umiak. Because apparently the Humans are what gave the Shells a war winning advantage.

This is a major fuck up on the Loroi's part and they need to understand this kind of shit wont fly. Period. No excuses, explanations or rationalizations accepted. At all. The humans would NOT be forgiving of such a blatant and obvious threat at a time when EVERY LOROI LIFE ON THAT SHIP DEPENDS ENTIRELY UPON HUMANITY'S ASSISTANCE, especially when the humans can walk away at any time and have already forgiven their rescuees for STABBING ONE OF THEM. The Loroi do not get to simply talk their way out of this one, I don't care how well this Mizol is trained or how old she is. The Loroi, as a species, need to understand that this behavior will not be tolerated.

Now imagine a similar scenario before US contact, when Japan still had swords and bows and the US had steam engines, cannons and early rifles. A US ship is stranded on a remote japanese island waiting for assistance. Some Japanese Samurai go there to offer assistance to foreign warriors but for some reason the sentries don't pick the japs up until they are on the ship with swords and bows.

The Japanese 'barbarians' would be dead and if the US ship was attacked for this action, Commander Perry would have been ordered to rape and pillage Tokyo and would have been lauded as a revenging hero, who taught those barbarian gooks what happens when you mess with the star spangled banner of the US of A.

Now what if the imaginary USA was at a full scale genocidal war with Russia and Japan was on the way?

In real life the Japanese capitulated to Commander Perry almost unconditionally after some violent gun boat diplomacy. Fortunately for them they didn't have a warlike idiot as a Shogun at the time.

If the Loroi act like this when their lives are entirely dependent upon humanity's goodwill, I can not even imagine what their behavior would be like when their lives are not entirely dependent upon humanity's goodwill.

Ensign second class Alexander Jardin; sole survivor of ECS-154 Bellarmine. AKA: The Outsider.

The Loroi are a superpower. They know it and although they can't read the humans, they know that they know as well.

What the Loroi don't know is if the Humans are pulling a Tithric on them, are they the reason behind the Umiak suddenly gaining the ability to hide from far sense?

PS: Please don't be mean to others.
PS2: Thanks for the heated response, which is exactly what I was aiming for

[Argron]

@Grayhome: by that standard the humans brought a concealed weapon to the negotiations, after all they are strong soldiers which are trained in hand to hand combat, and the other side in the negotiations are built like normal females that have never seen how strong they truly are. He could get close to any of them for whatever excuse and knock down and/or kill her easily. There's a reason a trained person's bare hands are qualified as a lethal weapon by law.
Telekinesis is as part of that diplomat's body as much as the man's muscles, but just like his fists, she kept it "sheated" and not pointed at anyone. If anything, she explained way more than was necessary for a first contact to soften relations as much as possible, but I have no idea of such matters.

That comment is so inane I'm... I'm having trouble formatting a calm and rational reply to it. Again, I reiterate that the Loroi brought a concealed, loaded, lethal weapon into an official diplomatic meeting. I call upon the intelligence and fair minded nature of the forum to examine this fact.

Also, humanity is in no position to threaten, and even broken the loroi ship can likely lay waste to the human vessel just with its point defence lasers.

Please examine what you are writing here. You are saying that the Loroi are capable/justified in murdering the diplomatic envoys who have offered to save their lives. That action is completely insane to any rational thinking person.

Regarding the wounded human, although they had good intentions they still assaulted a foreign military vessel without receiving permission from its occupants. Not saying humans were wrong since they tried everything in their power , but considering what the Loroi had been through in the war till now, in the previous battle, and the tension they had at that point, preparing for inevitable death one way or another, a stabbing by mistake meant the marines got off easy.

... I'm sorry, did you just declare that the Loroi were entirely within their rights to murder the people that are saving their lives? The humans who are, by the very courageous and selfless act of offering to save the Loroi, not only placing their own lives in jeopardy but the lives of every human in existence? That is insane. The Loroi have already been shown almost superhuman levels of understanding and forgiveness by their Human... saviors. I hesitate to use the word, it sounds so cheesy but in this case I believe it fits fairly well.

I have come to expect neigh ridiculous levels of support/defense from this forum on the topic of what basically amounts to crimes against sentient life by the Loroi. But this series of barely competent and poorly thought out... mental gymnastics is by far the most incomprehensible gibberish I have yet read.

The comparison of psychokinetic abilities alone (neigh infinite range, bypass armor, invisible, potentially tons of force etc) to a mans flailing fists is so... completely ridiculous that I can barely believe you made the comparison. I suggest you reread the Outsider Insider section on Loroi Psychokinetic and Telepathic abilities again. If they were even remotely equal in terms of killing power the Delrias would not have lost their war with the Loroi.

A very disappointing response to my comment. Very disappointing indeed. I implore anyone else who wishes to respond to my comments to type up a better thought out riposte, and use spell check please. That was painful to read.

I suggest you calm down and stop disrespecting other posters because you disagree about the interpretation of a fanfic based on a webcomic; it's a good webcomic and a good fanfic but not life or death. I see you have over 300 posts so I'll assume you are not a troll, but you sure as hell look like one.
Either way, other people are not here for you to vent about whatever else has got you this angry.

I'll answer your points, to call them that rather than obvious attempts at twisting my words.
- Telepathic and telekinetic skills are part of her and she is the designated diplomat on the ship, what can she do but avoid threatening the humans with said powers and go out of her way to explain how they work? the comparison with the human's fists is valid, as much as those are part of the human's body and can be lethal in some situations if there is a will of using them like a weapon. I'm not comparing them because they are as lethal.
- No, I'm saying the humans would be wary of threatening to break off diplomatic contact on behalf of humanity, or to abandon to a sure death a ship full of shipwrecked aliens who are know to mass murder entire species. For all they know they are evil enough to kill them in reprisal, or even worse, show up with a fleet over earth asking to humanity to clarify the captain's words. Fortunately the captain was calmer in that scene that you when you wrote that post.
Also, leaving shipwrecked people to die when you can offer help is, I expect, a crime.
-No, I'm obviously not saying they were justified killing their saviours, I was saying that they had been prepared to become under attack and die, soon, so when some strange beings appeared on their ship, from their point of view they were being attacked, and one of their most inexperienced recruits in a fight or flight instinctive reaction, attacked with only a knife. She could have shot several humans to death instead. No side was at fault, certainly not the humans, circumstances conspired to make it a misunderstanding.

The forum is pretty small but I will refrain to answer to you in the future seeing as nothing good comes from it. Also consider your post reported.


PS: English is not my native language so maybe I made some mistakes, but sure as hell I'm not going to use a spellcheck for the benefit of someone who behaves like that. Go spellcheck your behaviour.

[dragoongfa]

@Grayhome: by that standard the humans brought a concealed weapon to the negotiations, after all they are strong soldiers which are trained in hand to hand combat, and the other side in the negotiations are built like normal females that have never seen how strong they truly are. He could get close to any of them for whatever excuse and knock down and/or kill her easily. There's a reason a trained person's bare hands are qualified as a lethal weapon by law.
Telekinesis is as part of that diplomat's body as much as the man's muscles, but just like his fists, she kept it "sheated" and not pointed at anyone. If anything, she explained way more than was necessary for a first contact to soften relations as much as possible, but I have no idea of such matters.

That comment is so inane I'm... I'm having trouble formatting a calm and rational reply to it. Again, I reiterate that the Loroi brought a concealed, loaded, lethal weapon into an official diplomatic meeting. I call upon the intelligence and fair minded nature of the forum to examine this fact.

The comparison is off on its scale but the fact still is that Shadowcloud and the Teidar can't do anything about their Telepathy other than not using it. They can't exactly cut it off their brains; the only thing they can do is take off their amplifiers and still that wouldn't make much of a difference in combat.

Also, humanity is in no position to threaten, and even broken the loroi ship can likely lay waste to the human vessel just with its point defence lasers.

Please examine what you are writing here. You are saying that the Loroi are capable/justified in murdering the diplomatic envoys who have offered to save their lives. That action is completely insane to any rational thinking person.

Regarding the wounded human, although they had good intentions they still assaulted a foreign military vessel without receiving permission from its occupants. Not saying humans were wrong since they tried everything in their power , but considering what the Loroi had been through in the war till now, in the previous battle, and the tension they had at that point, preparing for inevitable death one way or another, a stabbing by mistake meant the marines got off easy.

... I'm sorry, did you just declare that the Loroi were entirely within their rights to murder the people that are saving their lives? The humans who are, by the very courageous and selfless act of offering to save the Loroi, not only placing their own lives in jeopardy but the lives of every human in existence? That is insane. The Loroi have already been shown almost superhuman levels of understanding and forgiveness by their Human... saviors. I hesitate to use the word, it sounds so cheesy but in this case I believe it fits fairly well.

The Loroi aren't nice but they aren't fools either. Shadowcloud knows the above and knows that her life and the lives of the rest of the crew is at stake.

She also knows that the Umiak suddenly have the ability to mask entire fleets from far sense. She knows that tensions among the crew were high already, with almost everyone believing that they would either be found by the Shells and die in a last act of defiance or that their life support systems would give out when they would run out of juice.

Their only hope was that the Loroi admiralty would move it's arse to send yet an other flotilla to investigate the area but that wouldn't happen until they realize that the mission is a failure, since the second squadron was far away from any far sensing picket squadrons.

I have come to expect neigh ridiculous levels of support/defense from this forum on the topic of what basically amounts to crimes against sentient life by the Loroi. But this series of barely competent and poorly thought out... mental gymnastics is by far the most incomprehensible gibberish I have yet read.

The comparison of psychokinetic abilities alone (neigh infinite range, bypass armor, invisible, potentially tons of force etc) to a mans flailing fists is so... completely ridiculous that I can barely believe you made the comparison. I suggest you reread the Outsider Insider section on Loroi Psychokinetic and Telepathic abilities again. If they were even remotely equal in terms of killing power the Delrias would not have lost their war with the Loroi.

A very disappointing response to my comment. Very disappointing indeed. I implore anyone else who wishes to respond to my comments to type up a better thought out riposte, and use spell check please. That was painful to read.

This is what I meant by mean btw.

[Zakharra]

@Grayhome: by that standard the humans brought a concealed weapon to the negotiations, after all they are strong soldiers which are trained in hand to hand combat, and the other side in the negotiations are built like normal females that have never seen how strong they truly are. He could get close to any of them for whatever excuse and knock down and/or kill her easily. There's a reason a trained person's bare hands are qualified as a lethal weapon by law.
Telekinesis is as part of that diplomat's body as much as the man's muscles, but just like his fists, she kept it "sheated" and not pointed at anyone. If anything, she explained way more than was necessary for a first contact to soften relations as much as possible, but I have no idea of such matters.

That comment is so inane I'm... I'm having trouble formatting a calm and rational reply to it. Again, I reiterate that the Loroi brought a concealed, loaded, lethal weapon into an official diplomatic meeting. I call upon the intelligence and fair minded nature of the forum to examine this fact.

Calm down, please. It's not like the Loroi diplomat is able to remove her telepathic and telekinesis ability. By explaining what she could do and showing them, she was being frank with them. She is what she is, she can't not take those powers with her. As for the other guards, Loroi military law probably requires guards with telekinesis with any Loroi diplomat when in negotiations at all times. Much like the Humans there that are trained in unarmed combat can't forget their skills. Informing the other side of what you are capable of comes across as a smart move, not a dumb one. When in Loroi space, you play by their rules.

Also, humanity is in no position to threaten, and even broken the loroi ship can likely lay waste to the human vessel just with its point defence lasers.

Please examine what you are writing here. You are saying that the Loroi are capable/justified in murdering the diplomatic envoys who have offered to save their lives. That action is completely insane to any rational thinking person.

No. He is saying that the Loroi aren't as much of a threat as you want to make them out to be and that the humans are in a very poor position to be demanding anything. Remember Humanity is there in the first place to make contact and hopefully a treaty with the Loroi. Issuing demands for everything because they do things differently than we do strikes me as a very poor way to start negotiations with a potentially hostile power that can -easily- wipe out all of Humanity with a single strike group. I will remind you of a quote in the Outsider: Insider: Humanity section: 'The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.' Just because we want something doesn't necessarily mean we will get it. In this setting, Humanity is at a distinct disadvantage and we are quickly looking to find an ally that will help protect us. Pissing off that potential ally is a stupid move.

Regarding the wounded human, although they had good intentions they still assaulted a foreign military vessel without receiving permission from its occupants. Not saying humans were wrong since they tried everything in their power , but considering what the Loroi had been through in the war till now, in the previous battle, and the tension they had at that point, preparing for inevitable death one way or another, a stabbing by mistake meant the marines got off easy.

... I'm sorry, did you just declare that the Loroi were entirely within their rights to murder the people that are saving their lives? The humans who are, by the very courageous and selfless act of offering to save the Loroi, not only placing their own lives in jeopardy but the lives of every human in existence? That is insane. The Loroi have already been shown almost superhuman levels of understanding and forgiveness by their Human... saviors. I hesitate to use the word, it sounds so cheesy but in this case I believe it fits fairly well.

I have come to expect neigh ridiculous levels of support/defense from this forum on the topic of what basically amounts to crimes against sentient life by the Loroi. But this series of barely competent and poorly thought out... mental gymnastics is by far the most incomprehensible gibberish I have yet read.

The comparison of psychokinetic abilities alone (neigh infinite range, bypass armor, invisible, potentially tons of force etc) to a mans flailing fists is so... completely ridiculous that I can barely believe you made the comparison. I suggest you reread the Outsider Insider section on Loroi Psychokinetic and Telepathic abilities again. If they were even remotely equal in terms of killing power the Delrias would not have lost their war with the Loroi.

A very disappointing response to my comment. Very disappointing indeed. I implore anyone else who wishes to respond to my comments to type up a better thought out riposte, and use spell check please. That was painful to read.

Again I say; Loroi space, Loroi rules. If the Loroi think humans are a threat to them, they would, as would ANY species fighting a total war with their entire race at stake, remove that threat as fast and hard as possible. If Humanity is to look good to the Loroi, we do not start off by acting offended and demanding stuff to satisfy our 'honor'. The way you are appearing to want humans to act would get them killed PDQ and put Humanity in the 'Need to Kill Now' list. We're trying to avoid being put on that list, thank you very much, so it behooves us to be humble, appreciative and not rock the diplomatic boat right off the bat