Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ridith looked down at the drones as they beeped mindlessly to each other, gathering information on his fleet and whatnot, probably sizing him up before attacking him. "I ******** hate drones...." he murmured to himself, as he hit several switches along the panel in front of him, preparing... something. Nothing apparently changed about the ships as he sat there, though a small smile now appeared on his lips. He hit the comm switch once more, beginning to enjoy this little conversation, even if it was only a matter of protocol. "Powerful entities you say? And we suppose you work for one of them? Don't worry, it's a rhetorical question. We are curious however, as to whether or not this contest would prevent us from exploring this area? We mean no harm as of yet." This was all said matter of factly, though the underlying curiosity of Ridith was beginning to shine through. He smiled to himself, as his mechanisms went into play...

In a rear section of one of the other six cruisers, a small pod had hissed to life, a soft green glow coming from within the glass exterior. Within the pod sat a shadowed figure, as there were no lights on in the vessel currently, though the current activity seemed to represent something. However for the moment the pod lay still, leaving Ridith to continue his conversation as he awaited some kind of signal back from the station....

The request was reviewed, and though the Alpha ship had no reason to trust the station, the arrogant answer was returned. Much to the dismay of the officer speaking, but that was life. "Fleet leader Alpha, you have permission to explore surrounding space or this planet's surface IF you do so in a vessel conforming to the following. It may not be carrying either advanced weaponry or invasive sensors, and must keep a relative distance of 20km from the station at all times." Answer given, Alpha captain had the next move.

@____@!

"Fine..." He answered, though such an answer came in a slight daze. Dusting himself off with his left hands, his right arm slowly and carefully slid into the sleeve. Once he'd shrugged the topcoat into place, he quickly fastened it up, hiding away the form beneath. Hashii's way of seeming distant never ceased to amuse.

The answer was swift. "Alpha, we are aware of your current position, though we hardly think you are aware of ours." There was a brief break in the message, before the voice continued. "If you plan on pursueing this agenda, you will have to do so in a vessel that conforms to the standards of civilian class ships. Weapons specifications designed only for combatting light targets or debris, shield systems in accordance with similar use, and passive sensors." The word was final.

Take it or leave it.

Another spider-bot makes itself by popping out a floor pannel next to the officer in charge of the comlink. Up close, it was work of art in practical functionallity. Each of the eight legs were multi-jointed and extendable, reinforced with spun Fibros Titanium (a metal composite, while not as strong as most cutting edge technologies, that has a greater tensile strength than other), and tipped with multitools for every situation.

This model had a data resevoir mounted on its back and a refractory holographic projector in addition to the standard loadout.

It glances around, then moves off to the side and plugs into a terminal to begin uploading.

==============================================

Far below, yet more spiders observe the path of Tegral's box and his robots. There optic sensors line the hallways from crevases and open panels.

It was a matter of discretion generally about command staff, but with Rookin sitting down below, it didn't seem like a pressing matter. Sure most of the top leaders were on the surface, but each was directly linked to the entire Cradle in one way or another. They were never very far from home.

Coordinates of the Citadel were relayed to the disembarking ship, allowing him a clear flightplan. "KB can be found on the planet's surface, as well as- Hey! What the heck is that! What's it doing?!" The comm cut out then, the voice clearly questioningly, though not with the gunfire sort of oh-my-god-it's-eating-my-face ominous comms cut. Infact, by this point the officer was on his feet, trying to give the spider bot a swift kick.

A nearby higher ranking officer drew his pistol and took steady aim...

...at the head of an R&D representative, who was cursing softly.

Someone would have to start explaining something.

Ridith noted the response with a smile, glad for the information. "KB, huh? Well now, this should be fun...." He began to laugh as he sat there, before bringing up the control panel, still grinning. He punched in some coordinates, commanding his ships to go back to a previous planet in the solar system which had seemed convenient and having his ships go into orbit around it slowly, letting them drift along lazily as he went about his mental calculations. For now, he would enjoy a few moments of peace as he waited for news from the planet's surface about this "KB" fellow....

Meanwhile the small craft descended along the course indicated by the comm officer, though the pilot blinked at the commotion heard over the speaker. Flipping a switch, the familiar voice came over to the Cradle's comm station. "Cradle, is something wrong? You would appear to be in some distress." he asked calmly. The Cradle might notice that the source of the transmission was from the shuttle as opposed to the main fleet, but that was of little consequence....