<recording audio and transcribing>

CMDR. Alex Rodriguez
U.T.E. Corvus
1307hrs 13 June, 2463 Local

So I realize it's been a week since I updated the ship's log. Considering we are relaying everything we discover and log up to the satellite constellation for backup, keeping updated is important. I'm sure that Rose has kept her end of things up to date at least. Speaking of the devil, we've been using her "translator" for a few days now and it is constantly getting improved. There are a few hiccups here and there however, along with a lot of 'well crap' technical aspects.

First off, we'll need to go through this process for new dialects unless there is a translator handy that feels like reading a dictionary. Call me crazy but Princess Boann seems to be the one to ask about that when it comes up. She's been writing down everything, even the crazy little details. To each their own, but it does seem a little weird sometimes. So that's the first issue.

The second and biggest one is simply the translator itself. It's a background process Rose has been running on one of her cores. That causes a few small issues that can turn into big ones in a hurry. The process itself is only using a touch over 1% of her processing power. Now add in the huge hit from running her chassis with all the emotional and stimuli processes, everything from the four frames, and the Corvus. Long story short, it's keeping her at around 50-60% usage with spikes as she does something detail orientated. We'll have to come up with something to lower that. Rose is looking into modifying the frame programming to be more autonomous, so that might help in the immediate future though.

For the translation part, since it is a process running in the background for her, I need to be in radio contact with the ship to get real time audio translation. The computer and Hologlas built into my flight suit just doesn't have enough processing power to handle it all. At best I'm going to be able to have textual translation only. At least the 'glas can project text back. It would kind of suck to read a sign and then mime a response to everything.

Anyhow, that is the big issue for right now. Master plan for the rest of the week is pretty simple with two projects. Rose says the atmosphere on the planet is breathable in the short term without ill effects, so I'm going to take my helmet off and introduce myself today. She's already written a patch for my suit to activate the hazard sealing at will so the complete suit doesn't get contaminated. When I put the suit back on, it'll just purge itself using air from the internal supply. Other than seeing if I choke to death on an alien planet, we think we found the event horizon for the wormhole. At least we've pinpointed where we came out of the jump anyhow. The Corvus doesn't have the hardware to force open a wormhole, so we're going to drop the last of our satellite constellation on the way to, and outside the exit point.

That way even if we can't open the wormhole, we might be able to force a signal through if it hasn't sealed itself. At least sending a distress call and our logs on repeat might get to someone that way. We've found zero traces of FTL comms reaching wherever the fuck we are, and regular systems don't have the power to make it outside this fucked up solar system.

So yeah, we've got a "plan" but we'll see how it works out. If today goes well, Rose popped up with the idea of potentially inviting one of the royals and their guards to go up with us when we do the beacons. Since they'd contaminate the ship, we'd just have the frames set up one of the modular monitor sets in the airlock for them to watch. We'll just hope they don't understand what the airlock does, because I know a human would freak the fuck out at that.

Wish us luck.

<end recording>

"You're sure this isn't going to kill me, right? And you know the hazard seals freaking suck. If they get stuck, we're going to have to cut this damn thing off me, and I'll never let you live it down or that you'll be eyeing me up. Yes I see you watching me. Pervert."

Yup. Rose is rolling her eyes at me while I slip into my flight suit. The soft fabric lining stretching to fit every contour and bend in your body feels weird until you break in a new suit. Considering we might end up having to decon the entire thing, I didn't want to use my good one, so I grabbed a spare from storage. Unfortunately I stocked up on the bright orange "save me I'm drifting in deep space" colored ones. But hey, they were cheap and still had the usual 'glas hookups. It only took a moment to snap the unit onto my wrist before it lit up to show functionality.

"Yes, I'm sure the air won't kill you. It does smell a but funny but that might just be me getting used to having a sense of smell. You're not allowed to die on me anyhow. I like having you around and I'm really sure I don't want to spend the eternity until my systems shut down on a rock inhabited by space horses. Ass."

Pretending to not notice her grinning, I pulled a matching helmet off the rack and gently settled it over my head. Doing my best to ignore the metallic clicking and ratcheting as the new helmet and suit got acquainted, my vision stayed on the scrolling diagnostics and pressure tests. Tell you what though, you don't know uncomfortable until a suit powers up for the first time and autocontours to you. Having the suit find out a pressure curve to keep you safe without crushing your tender bits is fidgety to say the least. Worse when you have a smartass AI giggling when you try to wiggle form fit gel away from squishing... places. Since each suit can have minor differences, they have to get a profile set up on a Hologlas and settings locked into the hardware. Generic suits are way worse and to be honest, fuck that. There's a reason why people buy their own suits fast.

The Equestrians were pleasantly surprised to see their "guests" exiting their craft. The three royals had had their breakfast with the guard contingent a few hours prior and spent the time since coming up with a list of topics to discuss. One important item on the list was finding a new home for their ship as winter was coming soon and they were landed in an avalanche chute. While they had no doubt something that could travel the stars could handle a little snow, the concern was for it's crew. One of them could easily be dashed to the rocks and that would be an ignoble end for one of their first visitors from space.

As one, the trio the ponies gawked at the pair leaving the Raven, as they called the ship. Rose was in her usual form fitting suit, but her companion appeared to have changed from his usual dark and drab colored clothes into something... garish. The bright orange reflected brightly in the morning light in colors that frankly didn't appear or need to appear in nature. A green light on the 'speaker,' as Rose called it, was the only thing to pull their attention from the horrifying display as the soft voice of Rose began to play through the device.

"Good morning Princesses Brighid, Aine, and Boanne. I hope you've had a pleasant morning." As a group, the Equestrians nodded and murmured to themselves without reaching for the button. Neither human or AI could tell if them not pushing the 'talk' button was intentional or not, so Rose just continued speaking. "I think we've reached a common point in our talks to where we can give a little more detail about things and where we come from. Yes, I am talking without my lips moving, Princess Boann. I'll be getting to that in a moment."

"The translator says that it is telling you my name is Simulated Rose. That is an error that I'd like to apologize for. I am Rose, Æmaeth to Defending Blade."

Frankly, the eldest royals just looked confused as they looked to Princess Boann while she babbled excitedly at them for a moment. A heartbeat later, the purple princess leaned forward to push the button before speaking.

"When you say æmaeth, do you mean a golem? You are... unnatural, a construct?"

Understanding lit up across their faces when Rose began to explain in simplicities that yes, she was an artificial being. This was why Rose never wore a helmet but her partner did. She didn't need to breathe, let alone literally being the ship, the person they were speaking to, along with the "shells" that worked tirelessly on the Raven.

"But if we could come back to that when there are more words to describe, I would appreciate it. I imagine there are questions, but I cannot answer them yet. I would like to formally introduce you to my commander. The air is not healthy for him to breathe long, so Defending Blade will only have his helmet off for a few moments."

As one, the trio shifted their gaze to the biped in bright colors, who was poking buttons on an image projected above his arm. The floating outline of Defending blade had a red line flashing around his neck for a moment, before he grabbed at his collar. Soft metallic clicks filled the air for a moment, before Defending Blade grabbed the helmet and jerked on it. With a soft click and hiss, the helmet came free to reveal, well more of the same as they expected. He looked similar to Rose, with darker skin, deep green eyes, and facial hair. They hadn't expected a thin goatee on Rose's partner. Granted ponies could grow facial hair, it just wasn't common, or even expected in this case.

Neither was the speaker repeating the quiet words he was muttering.

"Go cac ghortú. Fan, tá sé beo? Go raibh maith agat Rose. Grá duit chomh maith. Um, beannachtaí. Ligimis orainn riamh chuala tú go deireanach agus tús os a chionn. Tá mé Commander Blade na Terran Aontaithe Impireacht. Tá súil agam nach bhfuil muid ag chur faoi deara aon cheataí trí tuirlingthe anseo."

That shit hurt. Wait, this is live? Thanks Rose. Love you too. Um, greetings. Let's pretend you never heard that last and start over. I'm Commander Blade of the United Terran Empire. I hope we do not cause any inconvenience by landing here. Next Chapter: 19. Going Ballistic Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 40 Minutes