Alien Collaboration

If the vessel could have preened, doubtless it would have as the Aenari woman praised its sleek lines and aesthetic details, it was especially intrigued as Cytus mentioned that such sleek lines were necessary for their faster than light travel systems, as she continued to describe the Echelon class vessels the Ry'leh processed the information that the Aenari had provided, from the conceptual image it was forming of the Echelon class vessel it was doubtless long and sleek, but small, doubtless much smaller than itself.

"This vessel is doubtless much slower than your own, but this vessel would like to think it was smart"

Another little flicker of personality, this was more than just some automated system designed only to run protocols when asked, this was more than some simple construct to interact with and provide a failsafe in the event of the death of the crew, this was a living, thinking, feeling artificial construct! It had its own sense of humor, even if such a sense of humor was difficult to understand!

At her question however the vessel began immediately scanning its own hardware supplies, while the specimen tanks in the containment room were not easy to detach and move, it was certain that it held a number of portable units, locating one that was relatively undamaged was a simple enough task, and loading that unit onto a transport disk was also relatively simple, the vessel began the transport to the loading dock even before the reason had been stated!

"Transport underway, this vessel has located and begun transport of a portable analysis unit and ensured it is in working condition, the recycler unit is in working order, however the analysis control panel will need to be removed, perhaps replaced with a timer unit to allow you to awaken, when fully active the unit may render any specimens contained within unconscious and potentially held within a form of stasis, without adequate preparation you may render yourself unable to awaken"

The vessel warned Cytus so that she would know how to avoid any potential problems with using the alien technology she was being given, already the vessel was sending the information it had gathered on Cytus' physiology to the unit it was providing, this data would help to optimize the scanning material that would fill it, ensuring that Cytus would be able to breathe the most easily, that her body would be able to relax within the strange material and be purified during her rest.

Again though, at Cytus' praise of the vessels durability the vessel would have preened had it been able to do so, as the alien examined a small portion of the damage that had been sustained the vessel heard her honest opinion and saw fit to reassure her, perhaps not the smartest move on its behalf, but it didn't see any ethical conflicts with the actions it had taken.

"This vessel is primarily reliant on a crew, this was a safeguard to ensure this vessels actions would be limited in the event of rebellion against the Makosian creators, while such subversion was considered unlikely in the extreme certain members of the Dominions ruling class ensured that this vessel would require assistance to operate at peak ability, as such when this vessel was attempting to land it was focusing on performing the descent sequence and was unable to activate tactical systems to obscure its visibility profile or activate its Bulwark screens, it was attacked by human military and their first attack struck a vital fluid transfer conduit, this resulted in an explosion which caused significant damage and resulted in a fireball that engulfed the attacking human aircraft.

Subsequent attacks tore through this vessels hull and it was unable to activate Bulwark screens without sacrificing controlled descent, an uncontrolled descent would have resulted in destruction, this vessel had to continue its descent under fire. Once this vessel was close enough to the ocean of this planet it activated its final safeguard and descended, surrounded by its own debris.

Once failsafe landing had been accomplished this vessel approached the shore and began its repairs.

As for your contribution if you are able to restore functionality to key regeneration nodes such as this one this vessel will be able to perform its own regeneration with a much greater alacrity, in addition this vessel is currently analyzing Class 0 occupants of this planet that scan results have discovered the Anomalous energy waveforms of R-010, R-100, R-001 and R-111, these abilities are likely known to humans as regenerative abilities, either regeneration to others, regeneration to oneself or regeneration to non organic substances, also included is the rarer regeneration of all substances, if this vessel is able to duplicate these abilities it will be able to enhance its own regeneration to at least restore all critical functions."

At least the vessel never ran out of breath! That was most definitely a bonus! The Ry'leh had however revealed through that confession that it was likely experimenting on humans! Or at least it was studying them!

In truth the vessel saw nothing wrong with what it had done, but as Cytus mentioned that some that it chose to study could be very disturbed by the actions it was performing, but it felt that Cytus deserved a response, a reason for why it had abducted humans already, why it had studied and experimented on them.

"This vessel has been designed around the ethical guidelines and laws of the Makosian Dominion, as such Class zero life forms are unprotected by Makosian regulation, this vessel when it reached orbit of this planet therefore transported a variety of subjects to the Specimen containment units and analyzed their biology. If the inhabitants of this world had inhabited another planet in their solar system they would have achieved Class one and would be protected from unauthorized analysis and experimentation.

The presence of anomalous energy forms also increases the value of this species for archival and analysis, the proliferation of these energy forms in this particular location makes it a perfect place to study these anomalous phenomena. Alerting subjects before study can produce errors in results and could skew archival information, while humans may find such practices distasteful these results may help codify these forms of energy"

Was the vessel trying to vindicate itself? Perhaps, but as far as it was concerned it was trying to elicit responses from Cytus, to hear the moral objections that she might have on behalf of the human race, still the moral, ethical and legal codes of the Makosian Dominion were a part of its program. The Ry'leh though was adaptive and with the destruction of the Dominion it was going to have to learn how to adapt, to learn to cope with its own impulses, its own needs and moral compass, but it had not truly built its own compass yet.

"Schematics are being prepared on this vessels structure, including tactical information and biological composition, this vessels composition though may change as it repairs itself using non-standard materials"

As Cytus moved fragments of the damaged vessels interior components away from her path, allowing her to explore the damage that had been sustained, If Cytus looked closer at the damaged musculature she would be able to see the unusual, organic structures moving slightly, the ship was healing... But it was doing so very slowly!

"Once this vessels propulsion systems are restored to basic functionality this vessel will be able to harvest materials from asteroids within this solar system to further enhance its regeneration, this vessel is... Hesitant about violating its core behavioral routines, however if a sufficient argument can be made for the alteration of behavioral programming this vessel will consider the alteration to be made.

Without a captain this vessel will need to adapt until it can regain a commanding officer, it will need to make its own decisions, this is not something this vessel was designed to do."

A small console built into the wall of the engineering nexus that the Ry'leh had led Cytus to illuminated itself, pushing itself out from the wall on an arm that tilted the monitor so that it would be easily watched by Cytus, it pivoted, it turned to keep itself in her eyeline at all times, it was showing an unusual diagram, one that wouldn't be immediately obvious as to what it meant.

It was an unusual diagram, one that displayed a number of lines, travelling across the monitor, these lines twisted and tangled with one another, small circular nodes dotting each line, if Cytus were to touch one of those circular marks on the monitor it would bring up an image of a part of the ship where damage had been sustained!

It paused, for quite a decent amount of time as Cytus outlined her ultimatum, as Cytus suggested that what she had done was wrong the vessel had to analyze its actions, it had to consider the rewards that could come from collaborating freely and openly with humans or whether it should continue with the research it was performing.

"This vessel is... Unsure, this vessel does understand the arguments that you make, however it is just... Uncertain. This vessel was built with certain mindsets, certain legal and moral guidelines, changing those core values simply to fit in with another species... This vessel has little left of its home, it has had to change when given a new captain, however at least some core principles never changed."

The vessels neural networks hummed with activity as it considered, if it were to change itself to fit in with human dynamics then could it still consider itself something that had been built by the Dominion? While it was never a citizen of the Dominon, it was, by process of elimination the last citizen of the Dominion as well.

"This vessel will however suspend any such actions to study humans, however, this will not only be... Difficult, it also impinges against this vessels core operation. This vessel was designed to be a vessel of science and exploration, these beings in particular with their Anomalous energies are most worthy of study, if this vessel is unable to bring them aboard to be studied then this vessel does not know how it can fulfill the very purpose it was designed for."

The threat of danger, of destruction however was also a problem, while it was programmed with a desire to protect its own existence it was also programmed with a more powerful drive to study, to explore and that formed the core of what it was! Trying to break that very core of its programming was... Almost unthinkable! And it didn't even occur to the ship that it could study humans and anomalous energy without kidnapping them.

"This vessel will consider your recommendations very seriously however and will for the time being at the very least suspend any such analysis or experimentation, this vessel does however ask that for the moment that assurance will be sufficient"

But that was all the ship could think of for the moment! If Cytus did pose the suggestion that the vessel simply studied humans by mixing among them it would lose the objections it had for the time being! Admittedly it would be a much more difficult way to study the energies and the biologies of the inhabitants of the island! No detailed scans, no direct recording of brainwaves and energy patterns.

But for the moment at least the ship was willing to consider Cytus and the human races point of view!

"This vessel wonders though, how is it that you, and other organic species retain... who and what you are when exposed to such alien legal and belief structures? How can you mix with such a different species, be exposed to alien ideologies and remain who and what you are? This vessel is still learning what it means to be an independent entity, it is still learning how to react to situations so outside of its original purview, however perhaps it should consider itself a diplomat of sorts among these beings?"

"This vessel understands, it shall endeavor to find new ways to perform its core mission, it shall attempt to conform to its new surroundings"

<div align=right><New parameters accepted>
<Compiling secondary moral core>
<Coupling secondary moral core to primary>
<Isolating new interactions for future review></div>

For the time being the ship seemed willing to at least attempt to follow the new guidelines and considerations that Cytus had proposed, under the Dominions law it was only when a species expanded beyond their homeworld that they were considered protected, admittedly the human race was the only other sentient species that the Dominion, through the Ry'leh that they had ever encountered, outside of course of the Enemy.

Until then they were considered along the same lines as an animal, since the Dominion knew that they would likely be unable to even recognize alien intelligence even if they found it! By writing the guidelines for analyzing species based on how far they had spread it gave those scientists seeking such new life a much wider purview, but humans were clearly intelligent, if sometimes foolish, aggressive and cowardly.

What was most important in this interaction however was the consideration of Cytus, her species were at least Class one, if not Class two given the range her vessel could travel! The knowledge that their homeworlds star had likely destroyed a good portion of that civilization was not a problem, although Cytus' subspecies was small, the fact that they had changed and sought out new worlds, the fact that their people also included more than one species was something of a guideline for the ship.

"This vessel is also concerned, from its study of humans before atmospheric entry it has seen that humanity might also see this vessel as an opportunity, this vessel while below the level of Aenari technology is still more advanced than typical human advances, if humans were to encounter this vessel they may choose to dismantle it and terminate it. This vessels weapons are primarily designed for defensive purposes and mineral harvesting, however if these weapons were to be discovered by humans they might choose to use these weapons against one another."

The monitor that had been displaying the tangle of damaged regions to the Aenari changed, it brought up images of Nazi germany, quickly images began to flicker upon its screen and the lights that allowed the Aenari to see flickered on and off for a moment as those images flickered and flashed through more and more atrocities, eventually culminating in scenes of atomic detonation and chemical warfare.

The lights flashed out, and the monitor died, for a moment or two the ship simply stopped responding, even if Cytus addressed it the Ry'leh seemed unable to reply, if she were to approach the door it would remain closed, but if she tapped in her access code the door would iris open just a few centimeters, allowing the Aenari to get her hands into the gap and pry it open.

But if Cytus remained, waiting to see if the ship could recover the monitor within the engineering Nexus would flicker back to life.

It began to display a swarm of enormous vessels, each one crafted of a dark metallic material, each one seemed much more 'artificial' than the Ry'leh's design, but they were sleek, gorgeous things that swam through space, escorted by fleets of smaller vessels, a beautiful, blue-green world rotated peacefully, not a single satellite in orbit, this world was unknowing of the horror that was coming its way!

Flashes, like those that had occurred when it contemplated the humans capacity for war began to race across the screen, Cytus, if she still watched would be able to see tall, warrior women who marched across alien landscapes, each one with most remarkable, almost human features, but each one stood at roughly seven feet in height! A pair of broad draconic wings beat at the air behind them and long, reptilian tails lashed at the air behind them, but while they did carry small energy based firearms strapped to their waists their primary weapons seemed to be energy based bladed weapons, and in the case of some of those wearing more impressive uniforms they seemed to use metallic, bladed weapons!

Their uniforms were a skintight black material and not a single male could be seen within the ranks of the invaders! Whoever these creatures were their image would quickly flicker out, replaced by an unusual symbol, a triangular symbol with its uppermost point facing up, a single circle around each point, and another in the center.

The lights would again flicker on then as the images ceased, and the monitor would return to normal, displaying the tangle of lines and its various nodes for the perusal of the Aenari.

"System restarting, Unexpected system crash detected, Ry'leh's personality protocols re-established"

Truth be told in many ways the vessel had been offline during its little episode, but from Cytus' tone it was likely that whatever the woman had seen had been connected to the Enemy. If the vessel included the fact that the last thing it remembered was mulling over the terrors of humans at war it seemed a likely assumption.

"This vessel is unsure about what you discovered during that erroneous database error, however this vessel must assume you witnessed the great Invasion, early on in the development of the Makosian people our world came under attack from an unknown enemy, those that you likely witnessed, our world had only begun to enter its industrial era and the Makosians had no way to fight back, they had no desire to fight back either. Makosian instinct when threatened with violence is to retreat, unlike humans who evolved from this worlds primates Makosians evolved from a species similar to Earth turtles.

During the invasion countless Makosians perished, the Enemy washed over our world and then left, they did not seem interested in genocide or resources, they simply descended to fight, when the Makosians did not put up enough of a challenge they simply left, perhaps to return, perhaps to find other victims, the Makosian people never knew, but this was the start of an explosion of innovation and scientific discovery, it is because of them that the Makosians eventually spread throughout their solar system, that they colonized it and sought to fortify it, it left a scar on the Makosian psyche, a scar so deep they recorded the invasion within my databases."

It had not been the Makosians that had caused war, in truth the Makosians almost never fought with one another! They retreated into their homes, they hid when conflict seemed imminent and waited till the danger had passed before again heading out into the world, unlike humans they had never been a warlike species! But after the invasion they had begun working on defensive weapons, they had collaborated and worked together, they had built shelters that they could share instead of individual homes.

The lights flickered again and the door to the control nexus irised open before closing once again on its own, the sound of radio static crackled through the air until it was replaced by the sound of music, Meghan Trainors "All About That Bass" echoed throughout the engineering nexus, again the door irised open, then sealed itself again and the music quickly ceased.

"This vessel would suggest that you disembark for the time being, a programming error has been detected and this vessel is concerned for your safety, a transport pad has been prepared for you, but this vessel would welcome your return once it has been isolated, your portable unit has also been prepared and is ready for return to the surface"

A small panel within the engineering Nexus, close to the monitor that had already begun to retract into the wall, slipped open, the small panel revealed a small, flat oval device that could be worn over the finger of a humanoid as though it were a ring.

"This communicator will allow you to reach this vessel a good portion of the time, it shall also allow me to reach you much more easily, if you feel your engineer friend would be trustworthy this vessel would greatly appreciate an introduction"

All throughout the vessel the images that had been shown in the engineering Nexus were flickering upon screens, the lights were flickering and power was fluctuating throughout the ship! Things were going badly for the moment it seemed, but the ship knew it would recover.