The Land of Fog

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kiwi
Posts: 129
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:35 am
Location: New Zealand

The Land of Fog

Post by kiwi »

So, I'm back at it. I really do intend to keep going on "What Dreams may Come," but I'm just not feeling it right now. So instead, here's something else I've had simmering.

Fair warning: prologue not withstanding, this won't be a military story per se.


Edit: fixed rogue italics
-------------------------------------

Prologue

The traffic control console beeped, and Soroin Pideir Stone sighed. Onyx, the humans have arrived. She sounded disappointed.

Soroin Seinen Onyx glanced across the bridge, and asked What's wrong with them?.

Stone blinked, then replied Nothing, really. But these "Terran Colonial Authority" ships are crap. They're slow and - judging by the manifest - poorly armed and armoured. Nearly useless.

Onyx considered this, then opened up the arrival documents. The human ships were indeed crap. However, they had come a long way on a 'friendship visit' - although whoever thought a convoy of warships was 'friendly' perhaps needed to visit a medical professional - and had turned up promptly in some semblance of order. I see two ships, the Kea and the Keruru (who know's how that's pronounced) are 'travelling separately.' Do you know where they are?

Stone shook her head. No, they haven't arrived yet. Maybe they broke down? I wouldn't be very impressed with a Lashret who left damaged ships behind unnecessarily.

And that, Onyx thought, was typical of Stone. There was honest, yes. There was clear communication, yes. And then there was Stone, who did not think before she sent. There was a reason Onyx was four ranks ahead of her diral-sister...

Oh, now that's dumb Stone sent. They're requesting an audio channel from way out in the incoming jump zone. The round trip lag will be ridiculous. That was indeed ridiculous, Onyx knew, but the Mizol Lennai had been quite clear; give them a chance, they won't be useless forever, and their contact procedures do work. Stone began to reply. "TCA Kea, this is <SYSTEM> relay. We have your arrival notification on file, but the light speed delay is far too long for real time conversation at this point."

The reply apparently came in a few solons later, because Stone started swearing. They're only a couple of light-solons out! Who didn't file their arrival notifications properly?!

Oh, they were close. Clearly, the 'travelling separately' meant 'arriving early,' and TCA ship had arrived in system during the previous shift. Stone looked ready to punch the previous watch officer, who was fortunately off shift, and Onyx reflected that there were several reasons for her slow advancement through the ranks.

She turned to Listel Tozet Brightwater who was new to the station and trying to make a good impression and already searching the logs. Clearly that Listel memory was helping, because she was mashing in log searches in quick succession.

Nothing here, Seinen She reported.

Now Onyx was getting concerned. At the very least there should have been a jump flash. What about real time sensors?

Searching now... Brightwater frowned. Nothing.

Perhaps, Stone commented, their navigation system is misaligned?. She listened to her headset for a moment longer. Their captain sounds quite pleased about something.

Onyx thought for a moment. They must be close for the light speed lag to be that small. Brightwater, can you cross-correlate all objects within 4 light solons? That would keep even Brightwater busy for a few moments, and gave Onyx time to finish her thought; it was unlikely that there was anything of significant size that wasn't being tracked for navigation safety. Any ship large enough to mount a jump drive should be very obvious, and it was ultimately her responsibility to identify any unknown ships in the area. From the wreckage, if necessary.

Brightwater punched away for a few more solons. Nothing, she sent, annoyed.

Very well. Check there's no one outside and bring up the search radar. Onyx ordered.

A few moments later the radar was up and Stone started swearing. She's laughing! Laughing! What is wrong with this human?

Onyx looked at the radar results; nothing. Nothing, when they were right on top of her and she knew where to look. Onyx personally went through the rest of the tools available; the Farseer of course couldn't see anything, the targeting radar didn't work, the lidar got no useable return, the infra red telescope didn't resolve anything, the optical telescopes saw nothin... wait. Brightwater, please check this imagery for me

Brightwater opened the feed, and looked. Onyx could see the moment when she noticed. The image was dark, but if you were patient, you could see a distant star suddenly disappear here, and another reappear there. What! How can they make a ship with no signature!

At this moment, Stone gritted her teeth and sent The human captain asks what we think of her ship.

----

The human ship slid into the docking berth. It was black. Brightwater thought she knew what black looked like, but this human ship was amazingly black. It almost hurt to look at, and the only way she could perceive the object was a two dimensional cut across the docking berth. After staring at it for a while she got the impression of a knife; long, thin, sharp.

The Gallen working the berth were also amazed. Apparently it looked this black and flat all the way around. Sinister, but thankfully visible in infra red after their drives started up.

A crack appeared in the darkness, which looked even stranger to Brightwater. It slowly opened up to a lit docking port - apparently compatible with Loroi standards - and a background of weirdly organic ship innards. As the gap got wider she could see curved and sculpted structural elements with nothing parallel or right-angled or sharp-edged but the docking port. An assortment of spherical tanks nestled in between the struts like fruit on a strange vine. Finally she could see a cylindrical pressure vessel behind the docking port, presumably the crew quarters, along with some reassuringly normal-looking plumbing and wiring. It looked like the crew quarters were tiny, the fuel supplies limited and the armour practically nonexistent.

Whoever designed this vessel had clearly prioritised stealth before sensible engineering, comfort or sanity.

----

And so a message was sent to the Loroi Earth Contact team: "Find out who designed this abomination and investigate what else they are making."
After a small incident including TCA crews on shore leave, a follow-up was added: "Also, find out why absinthe."

Upon receipt of the message, Mizol Torimor Tourmaline looked up at the Earth map she had been gifted by the American ambassador. She couldn't see this 'New Zealand' anywhere, so she called Quickstep, where is New Zealand? and sent a mental image of her map

The Listel Saszet took a moment to respond. It should be here, but it's not on this map.

Tormaline stared at the map, which showed only ocean where a two large islands should be. Who are these people that they had even removed themselves from maps of the planet?
Last edited by kiwi on Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

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GeoModder
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Re: The Land of Fog

Post by GeoModder »

Welcome to Aotearoa.
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mwightman
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Re: The Land of Fog

Post by mwightman »

Great start, please continue!!

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Sturzkampf
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Re: The Land of Fog

Post by Sturzkampf »

Good opening. Looking forward to the next part.

I don’t think anyone has ever come up with a sensible answer to ‘why absinthe?’

kiwi
Posts: 129
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:35 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: The Land of Fog

Post by kiwi »

.... aand we’re back. Updates will be sporadic, sorry.

——

Tourmaline was - what was that term? - fed up. Fed up with humans, fed up with Earth, fed up with diplomacy.

This last development was, perhaps, the most frustrating yet. New Zealand - another country, how many do they need? - had forbidden the Loroi entry on grounds of being a ‘potentially invasive exotic species.’ As the pleasant human from the ‘Department Of Conservation’ had explained, this was due to a bureaucratic oversight when a biosecurity law was written; no species came in if it wasn’t on the ‘white list.’

“She’ll be right, though. As soon as Barry and Jess get back from their vacation we should be able to sort this out.”

As if to further mock her, the whole country had hidden under a string of cloud banks. She had suffered the embarrassment of being denied entry to the country, and was now getting more annoyed with every orbit. She had, at least, determined that New Zealand was present on almost all maps... and there was definitely a land mass of the right shape under all that cloud.

The days had at least given her some time to research the country more thoroughly before arrival. Population 4 million, a member of the Commonwealth, democratic government, strange policy against nuclear weaponry and possessed of a strangely powerful caste called the Department Of Conservation (DOC) whose job was, apparently, to stop humans from wrecking the place.

“Barry” and “Jess” turned out to be, by Tournaline’s reckoning, about the 8th and 24th most powerful people in the country and - most relevant to her - the two people who could sign the documents that moved the Loroi species into the ‘white list’ of approved species. The DOC officer who had eventually explained the situation to Tourmaline was one of the best liars she had ever seen; he claimed with all signs of honesty that they were walking over a mountain range and looking forward to biting insects, uncomfortable public beds (Quickstep had looked horrified at the thought of shared beds for all comers) and “mud up to your knees.”

——

At last, Tourmaline had secured the necessary approvals and finally, finally, arrived. Quickstep had, in that Listel way, busily researched the ‘Kiwi’ welcoming formailities and given Tourmaline a précis; a pro-formal challenge with a spear, singing, speeches. And, in a somewhat disconcerting development, a ritual greeting of gently touching noses. Tourmaline was not looking forward to it but duty was duty.

What she was not expecting was the two people standing between her and the official welcoming committee. They both looked serious; one was a very solid-looking woman with a clipboard and the other had a medium sized dog.

Teidar Thundercloud, who could normally be relied upon to out-stare anything smaller than a battle cruiser, immediately sent Ooh, a beagle! She’s so cute!

Careful, Thundercloud, Tourmaline sent, the insignia in these two are for the Ministry of Primary Industries caste, and we don’t want to get tangled up in inter-caste rivalries here.

“Welcome to New Zealand,” the woman with the clipboard said. “We’re sorry about the delay with the paperwork, and we’ll get you on your way as soon as we can. Now...”

Tourmaline glanced around. None of the nearby humans looked concerned, but this departure from expected protocol was making her nervous.

“... do you have any fruit?”

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GeoModder
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Re: The Land of Fog

Post by GeoModder »

kiwi wrote:
Sun Feb 21, 2021 10:20 am
.... aand we’re back. Updates will be sporadic, sorry.

“... do you have any fruit?”
"Only a Kiwi?"

:D
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Krulle
Posts: 1413
Joined: Wed May 20, 2015 9:14 am

Re: The Land of Fog

Post by Krulle »

This seems to be the point to repeat what this is about.
GeoModder wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 1:09 am
Welcome to Aotearoa.
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

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