TeRuun Discovery, Gamma Quadrant

Reception in Metaspace: Sallea T’Prell

Rijj frowned. Today was a day, no, the day of celebration, The Day of Triumph…

…and yet everything seems to be going awry all at once… It had been 199 revs when his kind, the Tu’Ruun, had butchered (a necessity) the last of the Ty’Ruun…the ginger blooded mammals that mockingly shared the Tu’Ruun bipedal form…

…a justifiable genocide… …and it didn’t help the moral stance when genetic science had recently concluded that Rijj and all of his species shared 25% of their DNA with their vanquished foes. The Ty’ would have killed all of the Tu’ and those that the Ty’ didn’t eat raw right away, the Tu’ bodies would have been preserved as food stores…pickled, salted and dried…roasted…

Rijj shuddered at the thought even as zhe strolled along the decorative pathway, transparent resin filled pyroelectric river rock that fluoresced with each step, to the Ministry of Sciences building; a rather mundane, if almost imposing structure for the lofty goals of its name; a simple, gray sphere of one hundred fifty ekets in diameter, with the bottom twenty percent of the building buried below the soil and rock.

The air was warm and inviting, the sky a vibrant azure as U’roya, the life giver, shown canary-white above head…

…and two of the three natural, yet small and distant satellites, Kot and Ekeles of the planet, Thwiis, could be seen as little more than crimson dots; the remaining moon, Rija (from which Rijj was named), had an eccentric orbit and wouldn’t be visible for another two rotations, and then it would appear blue-green; elongated to viewers on Thwiis, but in actuality, it was a semi-flattened disk that spun primarily edge on, so the degree of narrowness or fattening depended on its orbital cycle.

Rijj heard the familiar buzz of Bost, hez Utalarian, a symbiotic animal with child-like intelligence, a fur covered exoskeleton of three parts, head, middle (where its 6 limbs and wings emanated from) and a bulbous end (the utility sac that contained the creature’s respiration, digestive and reproductive systems)…

“Hey Bost,,,” Rijj stated…

…as the Utalarian flew in close, its triple segmented, bright crimson lined, opaque, yet iridescent ebon wings gave a noticeable breeze. Rijj reached up and stroked Bost on its head, behind its large pair of shimmering compound golden-orange eyes…

Rijj’s chloroplasts began to sweat out a sweeter nectar because of the near presence of Bost…

“…you always put me in a brighter mood, don’t you?”

Rijj smiled as Bost purred and then the Utalarian extended its proboscis and began to extract Rijj’s light skin secretions around hez shoulders and neck. There was a substantial comfort having your Ut near you, gently lapping up Tu’Ruunian perspiration...

…by the Great Seed I’ll surely need it today… Already a clique of Informers was assembled before the main building’s entrance…

…and each and every one of them will want confirmation… The initial results of the Metaspace receiver project had born incredible fruit, well and far beyond anyone’s expectations…

“Chief Educator Kl’ahb…” the Informer in full flowering, cyan and violet plumage, amongst long golden silk, began to Rijj…

“…Ch’haena M’Kron Conduit Six News…what can you tell us of the recent findings…we already know that we’re not alone…can you confirm what these beings are like? Rumor has it that they’re Ty’Ruunian-like…”

Chief Educator Rijj Kl’ahb sighed…hez perspiration scent changed almost instantly from sweet, aromatic fruit to a strong savory…Bost sneezed and then flew off in a hurry; the Utalarian had tasted the off-putting change immediately and was likely off to Rijj’s garden-mate Gy’zees…

…most of the Informers’ own Utalarians followed suit and flew off in a haphazard symphony of low frequency buzzing and hums…

…probably for the best…

The Chief Educator’s forthcoming statement was going to likely sour the air very shortly and best for the symbionts to not get too offended…

“Yes, well…” Rijj began…

“…about a hundred revs ago, the esteemed Educator Emeritus, Ro’kuun Br’Ranje, theorized about the existence of a concurrent dimensional region next to, and/or part of our own three-plus-one observable universe…dubbed by the Informers of the time: ‘Metaspace’.”

The Informers were unusually quiet, Rijj had half hoped that they’d have blasted out questions left and right and that would give him an excuse to exit…but no luck…they appeared to hang on hez every word…

…very well…I might as well be the big bad Plant Eater…

“Two and half revs ago, the Metaspace receiver came online, and as you know the, physical apparatus was boosted into orbit about a rev before that…”

…stop stalling Rijj…

“…data came in…or in other words…we received…more like listened in…on extra-Thwiis transmissions…which of course took some time to decode…and even translate…”

“Translate…?” another Informer asked incredulously…

…the emerald draining fast from hez skin…and the first scent of fear was taking place…a sour, curdled odor…

“…yes…translated…our star-swarm, apparently, is well populated by many star spanning peoples and civilizations…”

“Many?” a third Informer gulped…

Rijj nodded several times in the affirmative… “…we have determined that there are at least two great Empires, and a comparable Federation, along with smaller Unions and Assemblies …but the closest of these are many tens of thousands of light-revs away…”

And Rijj knew of one other great galactic power that was much closer…

…The Dominion…

But there was precious little information on the alleged ‘nearby’ power…

…just references…and then there are there are the rumors, that probably aren’t rumors…

“Chief Educator?” it was the first Informer’s voice…

“Yes…” Rijj continued, of course realizing zhe had lost his trail of thought, and then made the conscious effort to continue…

“…well…these star spanning civilizations have faster than light travel capability…but the interstellar distances are so great, that it would take many decarevs to reach us, and that’s even if they knew where we are…”

“Kana L’uth Conduit Four News…” the Informer who questioned ‘translate’…

“…how is faster than light travel possible? Is it not a constant of the universe?”

“Indeed it is, however, along with our new-found knowledge…these star spanners have a method to…warp space around their vessels…and I’m happy to point out…our very own Ministry of Sciences have come up with a workable folding-space theory that should lead to a prototype in the next five revs or so…one that we hope will get approval from the Root Assembly…”

“Sorry to interrupt…” Informer Ch’haena M’Kron interjected…

“…what are these aliens like?”

“From what, incomplete, pixelating imagery that we’ve recovered thus far…we believe them to be by and large, Tu’Ruunoid,,.bipedal, much like us…”

If nothing else, this seemed to offer a subtle balm to the worried nerves of the Informers…

“…in fact, I’m expecting at any moment a call from my office informing that we have a high-quality image to present…”

…and then as if planned, (it was) Rijj’s localized transceiver module produced a semi-annoying interleaved mix of clicks and harmonically sparse, high-pitched tones. Rijj removed the communication device from his belt and held it up to his right ear…

“Rijj…”

[Chief Educator…? H’reen Og’vo…] Rijj’s colleague’s gentle, alto pitched voice stated…

[…the decode was successful…about ten h’rets of motion imagery…and no…I haven’t looked at it…]

“Very well then…” Rijj spoke to his commdev… “…display the moving image on the building’s exterior, where the Informers and I can see it clearly…”

[…okay Chief, initiating visuals…n….now!]

The entire Science structure was capable of displaying images anywhere on its above ground spherical, exterior surface; visual compensators accounted for the curved surface and images would be reproduced accurately as if they were displayed on a flat/linear surface…

…the image started off with heavy block pixelization and then in two h’rets, the image blocks shrunk and then effectively vanished leaving an image of gold, silver and white against a rich, blue background…there were two curved, what must be plant life tendrils (grain grasses?) framing a circle with that contained a pattern of stars…

…beautiful…

There gasps of pleasant surprise at the image…and underneath the emblem in conspicuous block characters was…

UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS

…it appeared to be a language…

…I hope we can translate it soon…

…and then the embalm page abruptly disappeared revealing the upper torso of a Tu’Ruunoid-like being…

…the stunned silence and the sudden aroma of soured perspiration said it all…the being on display had all the characteristics of a…

…mammal…!

…the being sported dark hair, had light beige skin and a hairless face, wearing some form of bulky fabric clothing or armor from the neck down…and what little audio that was decoded came out as…

[My name is Joshua Barnett and I am running for…]

It would be some time before the audio was translated…

It had been simply called ‘The Mobilization’…the entire planet (the sentient inhabitants specifically) went through a collective panic phase, and subsequently arisen from the melancholy with new purpose and vigor…survival!

The cellulose based, chlorophyll skinned Tu’Ruun people and their world government fast tracked the faster-than-light experiments…including the discovery of advanced polymerization and catalytic techniques that produced high plasma energy load bearing crystals analogous to Federation references of ‘dilithium’…

…what would take longer to achieve, would be the creation of sufficient quantities of anti-matter…currently scheduled to be made off world on a Kotar installation, the closest of Thwiis’ three moons; however, the work was projected to take ten revs, but the planet’s citizens were highly motivated…it might take only five…

…and over the intervening revs, the Ministry of Sciences learned more about their Galactic competitors/adversaries…from the Federation’s point of view, Thwiis (and the Dominion for that matter) were located in the Gamma Quadrant, an arbitrary reference where the Federation (plus the Klingon and Romulan Empires) straddled the line between Alpha and Beta Quadrants; as for the Delta Quadrant, little information was available.

H’reen was in her lab, crossed legged on the floor, surrounded by a full dozen stacks of pulp, an eket and a half high, written/recorded accounts of unidentified phenomena and occurrences, her gently passive Ut, Dooz, nuzzled warmly in H’Reen’s lap, Dooz’s wings were a shockingly bright caerulean, with equally dazzling magenta veins that seemed to float above the sapphire surface…

“I believe…” she said, and then paused as she looked over the document…

Rijj looked over and across at the gender specific individual…H’reen’s full head of long, golden silk cascaded down her head framing her freckled, emerald face and settling on her shoulders. Rijj’s own silk, was a deep caramel, shaved close on the sides and back of his skull and flattop style on the top…

…never really noticed before, but she is quite an attractive individual…

…about twenty percent of the Tu’Ruun population were biologically coded as either female or male, the balance were gender mutable…and it was unfortunate that the gender specifics were sometimes persecuted and/or discriminated against…

…you’d think with all of these new external pressures…bigotry would have fallen to the way side…

Rijj looked away from his assistant, feeling slightly embarrassed at the perhaps, lingering look…Dooz, however, seemed to have sensed this, as its wings fluttered slightly and then drooped over, covering H’reen’s legs and lap like a blanket…

…Rijj’s own symbiont wasn’t present as the Ut shared its time between Rijj and Gy’zees, and was presumably with hez garden-mate.

The Chief Educator lowered himself to floor, crossed his legs to get comfortable, and then grabbed the nearest piece of pulp with handwritten print, one after another; lightly skimming through the accounts presented and most often, starting a new pile of ‘not very convincing accounts’…

“...I have a positive hit on one…” H’Reen finally continued…

“Alright…give me the salient points…” Rijj answered.

“Okay, this account is from forty-eight revs ago…” H’reen began…

“…location…the K’nara Gardens, the west side, sparsely populated…a small craft landed and two vastly different Tu’Ruunoid individuals emerged…quote: ’one slight of build, light mammal skinned, dark hair and prominent external ear tissue…the other, larger, brutish, hairless, armor-scale-like skin,…they looked around, with the slight individual holding an object before it that hummed…and then with a shrug, the big eared one turned and went back into his (space) ship followed by the big scaled one…and then the craft lifted up with a loud whine and shot up into the sky.’”

And then flipping a page, H’Reen gasped in delight…

“Look at this…” she said; and then handed Rijj the pulp…

…it was a sketch matching the written description…

“They’re Dominion species…” Rijj stated matter-of-factly…

…data had slowly been trickling in from the Metaspace receiver…the Federation was the most diverse interstellar government, composed of many different Tu’Ruunoid species, with ‘humans’ being the principal explorers; the Klingon and Romulan Empires were predominantly mono-racial and warlike…

“…Vorta and Jem’Hadar…apparently we’ve been visited by them…”

“…and we were found wanting in some fashion or other…?” H’Reen interjected…

…his assistant was quite bright also…

“Exactly right…” Rijj agreed…

“…apparently our U’royal system held little interest…seems having some form of faster-than-light capability attracts and then demands their attention…”

“Well…” H’Reen said…

“…if all goes per schedule, like it or not, we may very soon entice more consideration from these star spanners…”

Rijj nodded in the affirmative; the first fold-space engine vehicle, DECLARATION, an automated vessel, was scheduled for its maiden voyage off of Kot in a mere twenty rotations and if all went well, would end up in the vicinity of Rycus, the largest body orbiting in the U’royal system…

…Ha’Ruus, Thwiis, Rycus, K’Efeen & Jara, and Nepret…

…Rycus was an ‘almost’ star…a giant sphere of gasses that was just a bit too small to ignite in thermonuclear fusion and appeared in Thwiis’ sky as a bit larger than a dot, white with the hint of orange…

“…truly…”

…Rijj agreed and trailed off as his mind just now began to contemplate the wonder, enormity and awe of the new universe view…

Glossary – cycles - one planetary rotation of Thwiis on its axis decarevs – Tu’Ruun equivalent of 10 years Educator, Chief Educator, Educator Emeritus – scientist, lead scientist, esteemed retired scientist ekets – unit of length, ~ 1 meter fold-space - Tu’Ruun name for warp drive-like propulsion system garden-mate - spouse gender mutable – Tu”Ruun individuals capable of physically assuming male or female genders gender specific - Tu”Ruun individuals that are solely set physically as one gender, either male or female Great Seed (The) – Tu’Ruun deity/spiritual force Ha’Ruus – 1st planet (closest to) in the U’roya star system hez – similar to zhe, a tertiary name to go along with ‘him’ and ‘her’ h’rets – time measurement roughly equivalent to seconds Informer – reporter K’Efeen & Jara – binary planet system sharing the 4th orbit from U’roya Kot, Ekeles, Rija – the 3 moons orbiting planet Thwiis Kotar – pertaining to the moon Kot, equivalent to Lunar Metaspace - Tu’Ruun name for subspace Nepret – 6th planet (5th orbit) from U’roya pod – family revs – short for ‘revolutions’, orbital transits of Thwiis around U’roya Rycus – 3rd planet (super gas giant/failed star) orbiting U’roya star-swarm – Milky Way galaxy Thwiis – Class M planet populated by the Tu’Ruun people Tu’Ruun/Tu’ – the current sentient humanoid life, mostly plant-based, on planet Thwiis Tu’Ruunoid – equivalent to humanoid from a Tu”Ruunian person’s perspective Tu”Ruunian – pertaining to the Tu’Ruun, Ty’Ruun/Ty’ – vanquished/extinct sentient humanoid life, mammalian U’roya/ U’royal – A Class F5V star, yellow-white Main Sequence, 1.3 Solar masses in the Gamma Quadrant, populated by the sentient Tu’Ruun peoples on the 2nd planet in the system. U’roya equivalent to Sol and U’royal to Solar Utalarian/Ut – symbiotic, very large pet-like insect companion to Tu’Ruuns; with an appearance like a cross between a bumble bee and a butterfly (about the similar size and mass of a Terran rabbit, Chihuahua, house cat, etc.,) can be one Utalarian per individual or shared between a pod (family) zhe – pronoun for gender mutable Tu’Ruuns, a tertiary name to go along with ‘he’ and ‘she’ as there are three distinct genders in Tu’Ruun society