TPD Station Brilliance

[Rule 34]

The Space Station Brilliance in the orbit of Parin IV was one of the best guarded places in the entire sector. It's one of the most important outposts of the Directorate and base of operations for many missions of the Juris Alliance. No less than three of the Directorate's Paladin dreadnoughts guarded the space around it, as well as numerous Warhammer Heavy Carriers just waiting to unleash a flurry of fighters and gunships onto any attacker.

As you were closing in you could see a wave-like motion running over the gently domed disk of the Brilliance - the turrets on its surface have been pointed at you. One wrong move and your ship would be turned to dust. Your vessel was guided into the hangar by simple unmanned drones, and once you landed a group of heavily armed soldiers awaited you, a flickering around them giving away their Personal Shields. Yes, security was tight on the Brilliance. For a good reason. War has once more found the Juris Sector.

The soldiers quickly ushered you down several corridors, deeper into the bowels of the station. The brightly lit hangar disappeared behind a long curve, and your ship along with it. The windows on the corridor showed the all-encompassing darkness of space, both promising and frightening. All around you, people were hurrying back and forth, yelling bits of information and coordinates towards each other. From what you could gather, they were busy forming an organized defense around – some planet. The soldiers came to a halt before a heavy door. One of them raised his hand and entered a lengthy combination to open it up before not really shoving you inside, but looking like he would do if it you didn't move on your own.

The currently ongoing discussion quickly died down as you entered a round office. A few chairs stood before a big desk which was apparently made out of wood – rare and expensive these days. Behind it sat a man whose looks scream "Directorate Admiral." His gestures, his predicting eyes and trimmed physique all demanded respect. Even though he didn't seem to be that old, his combed back hair was bright white. To his right stood what you could quickly identify as a female Garik, clad in an elegant, blue hooded robe, her ocular modules glowing green in its shadow. She seemed rather interested in a painting on the wall depicting a sun-filled forest. On the other side stood a Xyranocapra out of all things, wearing remarkably well-made armor for one of their kind. As he turned his head towards you, you could see that his left pair of eyes had been replaced with cybernetic prosthetics at some point, a large metal plate surrounding them. Somebody had tried really hard to kill the goatling at least once. They failed.

After a moment the Admiral stood up and put on a fake smile. "Aah! Another crusader for the safety of the Sector! Come on in, take a seat."

 

[Caulder]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

Krell grunts as he reaches his right hand up to grip the door frame, practically squatting down and side-stepping in through the door, the top of his armor's hump grinding against the frame as he does so, seeming to pop through the doorway and stand slightly more upright as he furrows his brow and moves to one of the chairs, sitting down with a rather audible creaking of the chair. "Your doors are too small." he says flatly, a snort following shortly afterwards as he crosses his arms in front of him, leaning back with more creaking of the chair he was sitting in.

 

[Rule 34]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

The Xyr broke out into a bleating laugh at the Pan Kor's remark. "I don't know what you're ta-alking about, I didn't have a-any problems." Well, he was standing at well under 5 feet. Chances are he never had to squeeze into anything. Meanwhile, the Admiral's smile had faltered when Krell had pushed his way into his spacious office. He exchanged a quick look with the Garik, who shrugged underneath her robes. Clearing his throat, the Admiral continued. "I'm sorry our... dimensions inconvenience you. Looking back, we should have made preparations for Pan Kor, given the, um, nature of this mission." Looking at Krell as if was expecting him to say something and not getting a reaction, the Admiral cleared his throat again. "Well then. I suggest we wait with the introductions until all our scheduled guests have arrived. Make yourself at home." He waved his hand over to the side, where a table with snacks stood. Of special interest for the Krell would be a large basket with Terran fruits.

 

[Caulder]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

Krell snorts as one of his eyes focuses on the basket of fruit, the large Pan Kor planting his hands on his knees and forcing himself out of the chair, which, if it were possible, would probably be sighing in relief right now. "Don't mind if I do." he says, taking all of two steps before reaching one of his three-fingered hands out to pick up an orange, holding it up to one of his eyes to examine it. "My compliments to your species, for what it matters. Best food in the galaxy." he says, tossing the orange up and catching it in his mouth, chewing on it for several seconds before swallowing it, licking his lips and seeming to grin as he turns around and leans back slightly against the table with the snacks on it, as if protective the fruits behind him.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

The doors once again opened to reveal yet another behemoth of a being, a hulking armored giant of a creature. It was heavily muscled, and at least as large as the Pan Kor was. It's glowing red eyes stood out as the most unnerving feature next to it's sheer size, and for a moment they focused upon the Pan Kor, the creature nodding once towards him in a sign of respectful acknowledgement, before scanning the rest of the room and entering, barely through the doors.


First the eyes focused upon the goatling, the smallest hint of surprise crossing it's otherwise battle hardened features at the prosthetics he adorned. Next it's eyes fell upon the Garrik, this time an ever so slight smile crossing it's features, almost as if it found something amusing, or was pleased to see a Garrik present. As the Admiral spoke, it's gaze focused upon him, and it let loose a harsh sounding chuckle.

"Crusader? Hardly. It would seem I'm in the right place though given your seemingly endless gauntlet of minions patrolling. What have I missed so far, as it seems I'm not the first arrival."


When the others looked up to see the new person, they might get a bit of a surprise, for his appearance would be completely new to them. Whatever species he was, they had never encountered it.

 

[Caulder]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

Krell reaches behind him and grabs another orange, tossing it up and catching it in his mouth, chewing it thrice before swallowing it "'Bout the only thing you've missed is me claiming the fruit basket." he says afterwards, chuckling as well, a throaty, intimidating noise, at least, to someone smaller than him. "As for all the Crusader dung, I'm just here for the Terran delicacies." he says, laughing full-on, sarcasm apparent in his voice as he grabs another orange and tosses it up over his head, opening his mouth and catching it with a grin, clearly satisfied with the taste.

 

[Rule 34]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

The Admiral shows a brief flash of anger on his face about Krell's antics before the other hulking behemoth took up his attention. His face showed an interesting range of emotions - confusion, then fear, then stress. Struggling to maintain his composure, he quickly turned towards the Garik again, who didn't seem much calmer at this point. They started exchanging words in a hushed tone. "One of yours?" "Was about to ask the same. Ascendant Project?" "How do you - nevermind. No. Andaar?" They both stopped and looked over towards the brute. "Probably not, they're not as bulky." "How about we ask him?" "And piss him off? You do it." "This entire thing is your idea-"

"What ARE you?" The diminutive Xyr was far less reserved than the two representatives of the Alliance. Curiosity and distrust mingled in his two horizontally slitted eyes as he scanned the alien, trying to figure out if it was dangerous.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

The behemoth burst out laughing at this, seemingly amused. After a few moments, he quieted down and took on a more serious tone.

"My apologies, you have not ever met my kind. What I am about to say will likely surprise everyone here. My name is Draven Naros, and as for what I am ... I am a representative of the Ingrali, I've travelled here from my home world which is in, I believe your human friends call it the Triangulum Galaxy."

 

[Rule 34]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

The representatives' jaws hit the floor in unison. The Xyr, meanwhile, remains largely unimpressed. Perhaps, just maybe, he doesn't know what the Triangulum Galaxy is, nor why it's supposed to be a big deal. "Well, can you represent a little more-" "Shut up, Hiram." "Yes, shut up." Being cut short (shorter), the Xyr bleats angrily into the direction of the Admiral and the Garik, but stays quiet.

A moment later, Draven found himself assaulted by questions. "How did you get-" "Are you always doing first contact like-" "Absolutely amazing how similar-" In their excitement, the two representatives wouldn't even let each other finish.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

For the third time, the door opened to admit a new member, this new arrival having considerably less trouble with the doorframe than the previous two. It was a Terran woman in a wheelchair, her bright and inquisitive eyes glancing around the room, notably settling on the Ingrali for a long moment, then the three stationed by the desk. She was wearing what appeared to be a thick spandex flightsuit with a loose coat overtop at first glance, but the dark grey material with a hint of green seemed odd.

"I have to compliment your staff on their thoroughness." She said simply, her tone holding an undercurrent of annoyance. "Most notably a young man by the name of Jared, he was very polite holding me up while they checked my chair for weapons." Her eyes slipped over to Draven again, a frown crossing her face for a second before she looked away once more, unable to figure out the race he belonged to, but too polite to ask.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

Draven held up a hand before answering.

"How I got here is of little consequence, suffice it to say my ship has a drive capable of leaving this galaxy in just slightly more than a day. As for first contact ... you are the first people to lay eyes knowingly on an Ingrali in ... "


He paused, thinking for a long moment before adding, "I believe if I have converted into your time measurements correctly, twenty three thousand years. We prefer to keep to ourselves most of the time."


His part about his species would come right about the time the new Terran woman gave up trying to ID his species. He politely smiled at her, most likely his own way of acknowledging her presence.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

Maria groaned in frustration and whacked on her control panel with both fists, "Come oooon! You useless hunk of space junk!" She kicked her chair for good measure and then howled in pain. "Useless! Worse than useless!" she flopped herself down in the cockpit chair and sent an S.O.S. out. She could see the station, it was right there! And here she was, floating with just the life support systems operational. "'You're useless, Beatrice,'" she quoted an old earth movie, pouting sullenly.

A soft cough from behind her had her rolling her eyes, "Miss? Don't you think it's time we retired this old bird? This is the third time in the last cycle that she's cut out."

"Jeff, I'm not retiring the last bit of mom and dad that I have left. I'll find someone here who can fix her up for good. I just know it." She pouted even more, and kicked her feet up on the console. "Someone will here us before the life support systems give out too. Just, relax, yeah?"

She could feel his disapproving stare burning a hole in her chair, "If you insist."

"I do, and that's that," she tuned him out then, eyes heading to scanner console, looking for someone... anyone that could tow her into the station.

 

[Aust_Nailo]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

The door opened once again, this time, a dark haired terran woman entering. Unlike the wheelchair bound woman, this one only possessed slightly graying hair and a false hand. She was also still in her pilots suit, having only arrived fairly recently. She walked in as the Ingrali finished speaking"If you don't mind me saying, sir, that's an awful long time to stay hidden. But no race is perfect. So whose in charge of this mess again and when can I start fixing it? On my way in, I saw at least half a dozen things that needed to be repaired and I'm looking to get to work."

 

[Rule 34]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

Not too far from Maria's ship, space itself bloated, heralding the arrival of another ship. When the buffer zone opened up, it revealed a dark red ship, the shilouette of which would only be known to the more experienced TPD pilots - and even then, it was not one that'd make them pleasantly nostalgic.
The ship arrived with the blare of guitars playing blistering rock and roll, and Fletch grimaced under his beard as he quickly turned the radio down. "Damn thing keeps resetting, I should check that out. Eh boy," he called into the back of his ship where his co-pilot had ran away to, hiding from the sudden burst of noise. A low, drawn out baying sound answered him, and the big man chuckled. "Damn right. Shame you don't like your namesake, boy- the hell?" A little dollar sign started to blink on Fletch's console, indicating that somebody here needed help with their ship. "Welp, looks like we just found ourselves lunch." The longer I can stay out of Brilliance, the better, Fletch mentally added, casting a hateful look at the space station. This is where it started, a lifetime and just a few years ago.

Shaking off the dreary thoughts, Fletch hit the intercom and at the same time entered the SOS coordinates. "This is the Mighty Quinn, heading for your position. My towing mod is all revved up and ready to go."

---

The question slowly dried out as the two representatives noticed that the Ingrali was not willing to share much more information. While the wheelchair-bound woman's entry went, unfortunately, largely unnoticed except for a brief nod by Hiram, the arrival of the slightly graying mechanic helped returning the status quo. The Admiral cleared his throat and straightened his back in an effort to regain his composure. "Good day ladies. Do get yourself something to drink and have a..." His eyes twitched over to the scientist's wheelchair, and he choked down the word 'seat.' "Snack. We are awaiting a few more people," he said towards the engineer. "Suffice it to say, though, the chunk of your work will not happen on this station."

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

"Oh thank the stars!" Maria commed back and wiggled a little in her seat from excitement, "You're my hero, man!" She tapped out something on her control panel before she blinked and commed the tow guy, "Hey, what're you listening to? I've heard that somewhere before."

 

[Shrike7]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

A knowing smirk played across Caitlin's lips as the admiral changed his invitation midsentence, pulling a small datapad from a holder on the side of her chair and inspecting it a moment before setting it on her lap and making her way to the table, reaching over for a bagel and spreading some cream cheese on it, eating it slowly and occasionally glancing from her datapad to the others assembled in the room.

 

[Rule 34]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

Fletch paused for a moment. Not only was the voice on the other end of the comm female and attractive, but she had good taste in music. "Motörhead hasn't been around for a couple hundred years, actually. Maybe you caught a cover version." An annoyed bark from behind him made him sit up more straight. "Or, uh, not. Damnit, pull yourself together," he cursed at himself as he grabbed the wheel, steering the Mighty Quinn closer to the ship. As he saw the vessel, a grin showed up on his face, parting the beard with a line of shining white teeth. "Holy shit, is that an Axe? Where'd you get that, did the D sell it off? I... uh." His voice faltered for a moment. "I served on one of those," he murmured to himself.

"Getting in position. We'll have you in port in no time," he quickly broadcasted, trying to keep the conversation going. Any distraction from the memories was most welcome.

 

[Caulder]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

Krell reaches his hand behind him and grabs yet another piece of fruit, this time an apple, before inspecting it with one eye as he sidesteps to allow room for the handicapped woman. "I hope this is all. Anymore and this room's fit to burst." he says, this time chucking the apple directly into his mouth to chew, taking considerably longer than with the oranges, as if savoring the flavor.

 

[Aust_Nailo]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

"You serious? And here I thought I'd be getting the opportunity to work on something truly magnificent." She said, a mild hint of disappointment in her voice. She headed over to the table, grabbing a muffin and took a sizable bite out of it. "I've been working with junked ships, scrap and civilian equipment for a long time. Figured I'd have a chance to get myself working on some real hardware." She took another sizable bite of her muffin, plopping down in one of the empty chairs "Well, if that's the case, then what am I working with here?"

 

[Shrike7]

Re: TPD Station Brilliance

"I think if this were all of us, the ones in charge would be moving on to the more important discussions." The scientist remarked in a casual tone, glancing up at the Pan Kor, before turning to the admiral. "Which begs the question: how many more are we waiting for?"