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Post by Lanius Epoch on May 14, 2016 19:22:05 GMT
Ranger Regulations dictated that, when assigned to a sector, a Ranger had to present himself to a form of authority, in order to notify them of his presence in the sector and to inform them of any particular missions he was undertaking. It was normally just a formality, but there was very little normal about this assignment.
Lanius had emerged from hyperspace near the planet Earth, and his scans had identified it as the most densely populated planet in the system, and that was really all he knew. This system was far from the borders of the Grand Galactic Alliance, so there wasn't much information on any of the planets.
Taking his rocket ship into Earth's atmosphere, he set it on a landing vector in a small landmass, in the middle of a city. It hovered above the buildings momentarily, before landing it in an open space.
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Post by Rhea Stone on May 14, 2016 19:47:00 GMT
It was a mostly normal day at the headquarters. Well, at least as normal as it could be, after a meta-criminal had turned himself in, specifically requesting to speak to Inspector Stone. She spent two hours in the interrogation room with him, and then all hell broke loose. She looked around outside, and was about to ask someone nearby what was happening when Captain Santorini approached her.
"We just had a spaceship appear over the city. I've got MCD SWAT ready to head out, and we're riding with them."
Rhea nodded and followed her, taking care to close and lock the door first. About fifteen minutes later, three armored cars pulled up near where Lanius had parked his ship. Rhea and the Captain stepped out, Rhea keeping her arms crossed with her hand on her big gun. Waiting in the trucks were a veritable company of men, waiting in full tactical gear. More trucks waited around the corners, ready to go at a moment's notice.
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Post by Lanius Epoch on May 14, 2016 20:11:33 GMT
A welcoming committee? Strange. He hadn't contacted the Earth ahead of time. Maybe they'd seen him land and were curious. Indeed, from what he'd seen of their civilisation, the Earth people weren't as advanced as the Grand Galactic Alliance, and they were probably just being cautious.
Opening the hatch, he stepped out onto the unfamiliar ground, and was met with the sight of three armoured vehicles and two strangers. There was a bit of a resemblance, Lanius thought as he looked at the natives. He could see why he was chosen for this assignment; the Earth natives and his species were almost identical, physically speaking. He raised his arms in a peaceful gesture and stepped slowly towards the vehicles.
"I'm a Ranger in the Grand Galactic Alliance's Space Corps," he said in Galactic Standard. "I come in peace." Unfortunately, Galactic Standard was still very much different from an Earth language, so he still sounded alien.
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Post by Rhea Stone on May 14, 2016 21:30:54 GMT
"Do we have a translator?" The captain asked Rhea.
"I know a magician or two, but I don't think they're available." Rhea replied.
"Then how do we communicate?"
Rhea shrugged. The alien did look awfully human, which was a little... disconcerting. Maybe it had some sort of disguise? Whatever it was, they were taking no chances.
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Post by Lanius Epoch on May 15, 2016 10:38:37 GMT
Upon realising that the Earth people didn't understand Galactic Standard, Lanius halted. There was clearly a language barrier between them. Maybe they were thinking he had announced his intentions to eat them or bomb their planet from on high. Time to approach this in a simpler manner. Drawing his ion blaster, he laid it on the ground and stepped over it.
"See?" he said. "Peace."
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Post by Rhea Stone on May 15, 2016 20:11:26 GMT
The moment a gun came out, Rhea's own appeared in her hand, ready to go. She had it half-raised by the time Lanius put his own gun on the ground. She kept her gun out and ready, preparing for anything. It was confirmed armed, who knew what kinds of weapons were mounted on that ship it came in on, and maybe it had powers outside of the gun. Bottom line, they had no clue what it was capable of, and weren't about to take any chances.
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Post by Lanius Epoch on May 15, 2016 20:34:22 GMT
"Peace! Peace!" Lanius cried as he saw weapons being drawn. Maybe going for the ion blaster wasn't such a good idea. How could he make this simpler for them? He didn't know what their word for "peace" was, which was the main problem. He couldn't see what else he could do.
And then it hit him. He removed his helmet, dropping it next to his gun.
It had been obscuring most of his face, which was probably part of the problem. Underneath the helmet, he looked even more similar to the Earth folk, aside from a slight pearl-like sheen to his skin.
"Peace," he said again, letting desperation show on his face.
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Post by Rhea Stone on May 16, 2016 0:29:45 GMT
The helmet came off, and both Rhea and the captain gawked a bit. It looked almost identical to a normal human, but Rhea noticed a slight sheen, as if it had been working out. It looked rather frantic too.
"Call Cordelia. Maybe she can solve it." Captain Santorini said.
"Cordelia's in class." Rhea fired back. "Besides, she doesn't have magical translation powers." She lowered her gun, putting it back into its holster. "We need an actual diplomat here."
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Post by Lanius Epoch on May 16, 2016 19:06:34 GMT
Lanius relaxed a little when the Earth creature put away its weapon. At least they were getting somewhere in overcoming the language difficulties. He took a step back, letting them get on with their discussion. He had no idea what was going on, but perhaps they were making progress.
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Post by Rhea Stone on May 18, 2016 3:12:05 GMT
"Maybe someone from Larkin could like analyze it's speech patterns or something."
"That would take days, weeks maybe, or a literal supercomputer. Far as I know, only one exists in the nation, and it's in Marshallsville." Rhea shot back. "We need another alien. One who already knows an Earth language."
"Cordelia?"
"I already told you, she's in class, and a city away at that."
"Then I have no ideas."
"If it's willing to wait, we might be able to buy some processing time on the supercomputer at Exotech."
"How much?"
"I think the going rate is 500 euro a minute."
"Not an option."
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Post by Lanius Epoch on May 18, 2016 18:36:56 GMT
A couple of minutes later, a hurried-looking portly man in a suit stumbled towards the group of armoured cars, accompanied by two armed police officers.
"Hi, hello, hello," he wheezed as he caught his breath and extended a sweaty hand to both Rhea and Captain Santorini. "Andrew Larkin, xeno-interpreter. Your office sent for me. They said something about a..." His eyes fell on the spaceship and Lanius, who was looking somewhat confused.
"I see," he said, somewhat stunned. "Has the alien made any strange movements or tried to attack you?"
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Post by Rhea Stone on May 18, 2016 21:25:58 GMT
Rhea looked at the Captain, then to Mr. Larkin. "Well, it pulled out what I think was a gun, but it put it down and hasn't touched it since. We're still ready, in case."
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Post by Lanius Epoch on May 19, 2016 18:38:10 GMT
Mr. Larkin opened his briefcase and pulled out a sheaf of paper. "Alright. I'll try and make contact. If anything goes wrong...well, you've got guns." Larkin cautiously approached Lanius and put on a pair of reading glasses.
"Why are you here? Identify," he said, addressing Lanius in a halting form of Galactic Standard.
Lanius was delighted. Finally, someone who could speak on the same level as him.
"I'm Lanius Epoch, Space Corps Ranger. I come in peace," he said again, hopefully.
Larkin relayed the information to the police in their own language.
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Post by Rhea Stone on May 19, 2016 23:26:06 GMT
"What is the Space Corps?" Rhea asked. Larkin would translate hopefully. How he knew this language was utterly beyond her, but she wasn't about to start complaining; at least they had a way of talking to the alien.
That was not a sentence Rhea ever expected to run through her mind.
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Post by Lanius Epoch on May 20, 2016 13:07:58 GMT
Larkin relayed the question to Lanius, constantly referring to his papers as he did so.
"The Space Corps are the police force of the Grand Galactic Alliance," Lanius explained. "Its Rangers stop criminals and enforce the law."
"They're space police," Larkin relayed back to the other humans.
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Post by Rhea Stone on May 20, 2016 16:41:23 GMT
"Is it possible for you to learn our language?" Rhea really didn't like having to rely on a translator. Besides, it seemed like it would be useful for the Space Police officer to learn the local tongue, since it was obvious they didn't speak... whatever it was he did.
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Post by Lanius Epoch on May 20, 2016 18:21:51 GMT
"Yes," Lanius replied, relayed through Larkin. "If you can give me your planet's language files, I can update my translator implant." He didn't realise that this planet's inhabitants spoke more than one language.
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Post by Rhea Stone on May 20, 2016 18:27:18 GMT
"Um... Get him language files, I guess. Keep it to languages spoken here in Bareillia." Rhea told Larkin. Hopefully he'd be able to compile them. Whatever it meant by "language files".
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Post by Lanius Epoch on May 20, 2016 18:48:37 GMT
"I'll get my people on it," Larkin nodded as he got his phone out. One quick call later, he turned back to Rhea and Captain Santorini.
"We've got some files on the way, but it'll take a while," he said.
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Post by Rhea Stone on May 20, 2016 19:10:33 GMT
"How long is a while?" Rhea shot back immediately. They had them ready, apparently. That was good, that was good. At least she could actually communicate with the Ranger. Like, actually communicate.
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