|
An invader! An invader hath uncovered the hidden city! Sound the alarums! Ring the klaxons! The beast must not reach Owa Prime and lay waste to our sacred homeworld!
Thou mayst approach Owa Prime. But should'st thou harm one coral in the watery shores below, a thousand thousand weapons shall lay waste to thy ship.
Hail and well met, dweller in gaseous environs. Thou mayst approach Owa Prime and speak with the Reef Master.
Our battle shall be full of glory and honor!
Who art thou, O dweller in gaseous environs? From whence hast thou come? And what are thine intentions upon the secret and sacred world of Owa Prime?
But verily, the full name of our race is the Great Protectorate of Owa, Keepers of the Creche of Life, Dwellers in the Oceanic Depths, Reef Keepers and Sailors Upon the Currents of Space, Defenders of the Rainbow Worlds, Seekers of Heroism and Glory for the Owa Protectorate.
Blub. But thou mayst employ our abbreviated cognomen and call us the Owa. I am Oflubum, the Reef Master of Owa Prime.
Very well, discourteous biped. We are of the Great Protectorate of Owa, Keepers of the Creche of Life, Dwellers in the Oceanic Depths, Reef Keepers and Sailors Upon the Currents of Space, Defenders of the Rainbow Worlds, Seekers of Heroism and Glory for the Owa Protectorate.
Blub. Now that thou knowest that we are thy betters, thou shalt die for thy obdurate contumacy.
Now that thou hast divined the sacred coordinates of Owa Prime, thou must die before thou mayst prattle to all the galaxy about the location of our most secret and sacred homeworld.
Indeed. The world of Owa is most impressive. But it is also a secret. How hast thou found thy way unto our most hidden homeworld, which is known to precious few throughout the entire galactic quadrant?
Thy mockery has no place here. Thou shalt die for thy obdurate contumacy.
Perhaps. But first, thou must tell us how thou hast thou found thy way unto our most hidden homeworld, which is known to precious few throughout the entire galactic quadrant?
Then thou must leave.
Our protection is of the utmost import. Thou hast made a great show of thy peaceful intent, but there are many others far less peaceful. Now shalt thou answer our question.
Should we pledge not to attack them, our word would be our bond. Is the Revealer of Secrets under the guardianship of thy League?
We do understand such fidelity to a protectorate. We do hereby proclaim that the Owa shall not attack such persons in retaliation for revealing our secret.
But we may attack them for any other perfidy they may commit in subsequent days! This we do pledge.
Then we have truly reached an impasse. We do require to know of the being who revealed our secrets to intruding outsiders, and you do require something greater than our word.
I see no way past this quandary, and no future other than the clash of hot plasma in the cold void of space!
Ah. We did not realize that the Harika knew of our homeworld Our strength hath long been our ability to steal away into the inky depths of space, away from all predators.
Before the loss of HyperSpace, we sailed to far-off planets for conclaves with the savage Harika and the clever Yorn.
They sought to draw us into their war against the Hegemonic Crux. After much debate, we refused to join their war.
But during our parley, I fear that a sympathetic elder of Owa Prime did secretly reveal the location of our homeworld to the wily Yorn emissary during our parley.
So now the Harika know. That is a most troubling vulnerability.
So thou say'st. But doth trouble us to learn that the Harika live on. We cannot say we are pleased.
The Harika have been dangerous adversaries in the past. But we shall not attack them for telling you of our location.
Thou understands not. As guests of the Owa, thou must answer us first. Such are the courtly courtesies of the Owa Protectorate.
Aye. The Owa are truly great and compassionate. Now attend to us as we ask our many questions unto thee.
Why have our ships ceased to function?
Thou overstepeth thy bounds! Answer!
Impossible! We are not to blame! Thou hast lied! And for that, thou must die!
These are indeed grim tidings. How is it that your ship doth continue to function long after all other ships have lost their ability to enter HyperSpace?
Then we must wrest thy secrets from thee.
This is most amazing.
In sooth, such claims are made with ease, and kept with difficulty.
Thou believes that thou can restore HyperSpace travel? In sooth, such claims are made with ease, and kept with difficulty.
Repairing such deep and dreadful damage shall truly require the efforts of many.
If thou art sincere about wishing to restore our vital HyperSpace capacities, then lo, the Owa would prove most grateful, and shall provide assistance.
Thou mayst ask thy questions now.
Ask thy question.
May the stellar currents carry thee to thy destiny.
Hail and well met, thou dweller in gaseous environs. How may the Reef Master of Owa assist thee??
Greetings Captain! We eagerly await thine orders, and do refer all your questions to our Reef Master upon Owa Prime.
Base villain! Thou hast laid thy wicked trap with a cunning hand! Thy fell sorcery may have nullified our ships' HyperSpace drives, but thou shalt not find us easy prey!
We shall fight for our sacred honor even unto death!
Our battle shall be full of glory and honor!
A palpable lie! Dost thou expect us to believe that thy presence in orbit o'er this most venerable world is mere coincidence?
Thou hast told thy final lie, villain.
So thou admits it, villain! Thou knowest the Protectorate of Owa is the ancient Defender of the Rainbow Worlds!
The only way thou could'st gain access to this fabled world is by stopping the Owa Protectorate from sending more reinforcements!
Villain! Deceit is thy name! Divide and conquer is thy game!
Aha! So though dost admit that thou art here to set thy foot upon Owa sacred ground!
Therefore thou art a threat to the Rainbow Worlds!
So thou say'st. But until we hear otherwise from our Reef Master on our homeworld of Owa Prime, thou art a threat, and may not set thy foot upon the sacred soil of the Rainbow World below.
No. Thy pitiable pleading cannot melt our frozen ventral aortas. We refuse.
No. They are only for the Owa.
That matters not to us.
Come then. Let us enter into sacred battle.
The Rainbow Worlds are the birthright and sacred trust of the Owa. They are the repository for the toxic effluvia produced by our advanced anti-matter research.
But I have said too much. I can say no more. Suffice it to say that I shall do my sacred honor and prevent you setting foot upon the Rainbow World.
Only our Reef Master on our homeworld of Owa Prime can change our orders.
Alas, it is true. So thou may'st not visit the Rainbow World.
Thou knowest we can no longer use the HyperSpace engines that are the source of our travel. So there can be no change in our orders.
Thou say'st true. There is no justice in thy situation. And no justice either in our accidental exile.
We cannot tell a potential foe the location of our most venerable homeworld.
Yea, verily. Tell them we did our duty and forbade your visit to the Rainbow Worlds even at the cost of our lives.
Now that thou hast learned that Owa cannot send reinforcements to the Rainbow Worlds, thou art dangerous to us.
We regret that we must destroy you now, or perish in the attempt. Battle should be glorious, but we take no joy in attacking you.
Thou may'st proceed.
So. So it hath come to this. Our warriors have been slaughtered in the dry, empty wastes of space while doing nothing more than their duty!
Good. Our thoracic aortas swell with pride.
Their deaths bear witness to their nobility. They remained heroic to the end, and never wavered from their true duty, even without fear of sanctions. Lo, they shall breed!
To preserve the nobility of the Owa race, we do only allow breeding by the most heroic of Owa.
All Owa are forbidden from breeding according to the ordinary decree of nature. Instead, all Owa donate our reproductive materials to our great seed reserves.
Those Owa that prove their nobility are allowed to breed in vitro. In such manner we ensure that the heroic always do breed, even if the hero is dead. ESPECIALLY if the hero is dead.
As for thee, Human, I tell thee this: Though I mourn the loss of my warriors, I praise thee for thy nobility in conveying their final message unto their homeworld.
For all such future encounters, thou my bespeak all such marooned Owa warriors as thou shalt find, saying thusly: "Reef Master Oflubum hath commended thee to grant safe passage unto me."
Then shalt they NOT perish in vain, but live on until the Day of Rescue.
To fulfill our Grand Destiny, the Owa must find a technology greater even than thy Warp Bubble engine. We must learn to transcend the gross shackles of the physical boundaries of space.
And so we do require great experiments into the nature of anti-matter. But alas, the wastes our experiments discharged did prove ruinous to our planets.
We lost many worlds in cataclysmic implosions before we discovered the Rainbow Worlds. The wonder of the Rainbow Worlds is such that they can contain a seemingly limitless store of anti-matter without imploding.
We may use the Rainbow Worlds in any such matter as we desire, for the Rainbow Worlds are the birthright of the Owa Protectorate.
We do dispose of our anti-matter wastes upon the Rainbow Worlds because only the indestructible Rainbow Worlds can contain the wastes' explosive power.
The wondrous Rainbow Worlds do exert a neutralizing field that keepeth the wastes from erupting. Verily, the Precursors must have built them as toxic waste mounds.
Why would the fabled ancients create so indestructible a set of worlds, save that they then wished to use them to be rid of dangerous wastes?
Oh. Hm... The Owa had never considered such a thought. We must mull over this notion. Ask a different question while we ponder.
Seek not to undertake so frightening a duty. Such a task is difficult and fraught with peril. If search thou must, then thou must first cleanse the Rainbow Worlds of all anti-matter wastes.
Thou must collect all the anti-matter into one small area on the Rainbow World. Only an Owa Anti-Matter Scoop can accomplish this.
Thou must prove thine heroism.
I say unto thee, no such tasking is necessary. Thy nobility is evident. Thy inborn heroism or cowardice shall be amply demonstrated during the course of the Significant Events of the quadrant.
Indeed? Perhaps thou hast hitherto associated with lower orders. We Owa are close to the Precursors in development, and therefore far nobler than other races.
Here is the Anti-matter Scoop. It will scoop the anti-matter toxins from a single Rainbow World, and contain them but temporarily.
Say unto our warrior ships in orbit around the Rainbow World: "Reef Master Oflubum hath commended thee to grant safe passage unto me." Then thou mayst use the Scoop.
But remember - yon anti-matter toxins must remain upon the Rainbow World. Shouldst thou take the anti-matter away from the shelter of the Rainbow World, lo, shall the anti-matter erupt in fury, shattering thy ship - Yea, even thy Precursor vessel!
In that way we do prevent thee from fashioning a weapon from the wastes.
Ask thy questions.
It is the destiny of the Owa to find and join with the Precursors, and be acknowledged as the most noble of all races.
Thy scoffing is not becoming to one who would aspire to heroism. Ask thy questions or be off with you!
We shall not oblige such greed. The anti-matter wastes have far too much potential as a weapon to allow other races to control them.
We have pledged to never use the anti-matter wastes to devastate a world, or allow any other race to do so. Therefore we shall not share such devastating power with another race.
Mayhap we could, if we decide thou art heroic enough.
The Owa are a great race of warriors and scholars with a distinguished past. But yea, our future looks grim.
Yea, verily, we do regret the loss of the old millennia, when wars were simple, and the fate of the galaxy did not ride upon the outcome.
The battles were glorious, and the space lanes rang with the splendor of epic battle. But now the Kessarri Quadrant is filled with invaders from other quadrants seeking to plunder the galactic core.
Scavengers of the Precursors, instead of reverential and restrained admirers of the Precursor legacy. How we do long for the old ways.
The Crux seek an alliance with the Owa. And there are those among the Elders of Owa who would join the Crux. Before we lost our HyperSpace capacity, we had entered into discourse with the Crux.
They sought ongoing access to our anti-matter wastes and our waste-handling technology. But they lacked the nobility of a truly advanced civilization.
Beyond their power, they are mere plate-pated ruffians. We wanted no part of them, and retreated to our hidden worlds before we lost our HyperSpace capacity.
But if thou couldst find our hidden world, it is likely that the Crux can as well. Therefore we must decide if either League or Crux are worthy of our alliance.
But we shall give neither of you our anti-matter. Even though the Crux now have some.
In the days before we did lose our HyperSpace abilities, the Crux sought to procure our anti-matter wastes. They succeeded in deceiving us into giving them an Anti-matter Containment Pod.
They took anti-matter from a Rainbow World and fashioned it into a great shield for their Precursor vessel.
Any ship that tries to traverse the boundary of the anti-matter shield is torn apart in a furious swarm of electrons. So you see, we cannot give any other race access to the anti-matter.
We dare not deliver that unto you.
The Harika are most ferocious foes, though their Yorn brethren do temper their appetite for carnage. Together, the two races do exhibit some measure of nobility.
The Vyro-Ingo are an ignoble pack of contemptible, poxied beasts. The Lk are mysterious and withdrawn, and we have seldom seen them. And the Exquivan are naught but an enigma.
The Precursors are the great Lords of the Reef. Lo, in countless ages gone, they did make the waters of a barren, sunless world fruitful with life, and thus were the Owa born.
We seek the Precursors and all their lore, that we may partake of their legacy. We are their spiritual children, and one day, if we remain noble and steadfast, we shall reunite with them. It is our destiny!
We know of no such beings.
Alas. We cannot join. Yea, though our destiny is difficult, we must cling to it with all our verve.
For the destiny of the Owa Protectorate is the greatest heroism. We cannot join thee, for thou hast a lesser destiny.
Contain thy wounded pride. All who are not Owa have a lesser destiny.
In sooth, such claims are made with ease, and kept with difficulty.
If thou hast further questions, ask them.
Thou hast proven thy nobility and heroism. We shall trust this procedure.
We shall oblige thee in thy request. We present thee with a prototype Anti-Matter Explorer Vessel.
It will allow thee to thoroughly search all the Rainbow Worlds, though this is a prospect so terrifying that we have not tested it. May thou findest what thou doth seek.
We refuse. Begone.
What? Thou could'st not know about such a matter unless thou hast been to a Rainbow World, and butchered our marooned warriors! Die, villain!
Deception upon deception!
