The orbital that ended up being chosen was a rather humble one, flying around on a polar-to-polar orbit as a glorified supply depot. The Air Caste onboard were understandably shocked when the Peace Between Worlds requested docking access for itself and an alien ship, followed by what was left of the Au'Taal Protection Fleet keeping a close on eye on their charge. It was hardly the kind of venue High Ambassador Understone would have picked for a first contact with a non-hostile alien race, but he serves as ever at the behest of his ethereal masters.

  A table was hastily erected in the middle of the reception area where the T'au was expecting their alien guest. Aun'Eldi sat comfortably in his own grav-throne, his two ethereal guards spaced about a step farther than usual behind him. To his right was High Ambassador Understone and High Admiral Nightstorm. To his left was High Commander Needlesight and High Planner Shadeguard. The Kroot Shaper and Nicassar Delegate had declined a seat, the former more at ease with his guard up around a new alien race and the latter simply not fond of seats in general.

  "The Ascentrons seems to be taking their time to reach us." Shadeguard said, seemingly not aimed at anyone in particular. "Are they having trouble with the docking procedure? Something to think about, yes. Better magnetic clamps and atmospheric seals perhaps."

  "No, the orbital crew confirmed the Ascentron successfully docked their ship." Understone replied, raising his voice a tad so everyone could hear him. "I believe they might just be preparing themselves a little while longer."

  "Or it could be a trap." Needlesight grumbled, raising the room's tension to his Water Caste peer's annoyance. "We could have fortified this room better, erect a barrier to protect Aun'Eldi from harm."

  "I am not as unguarded as you might think, High Commander. And we are the T'au. We face the unknown bravely, without fear or doubt." The High Ethereal in command addressed his subordinates at last. "I believe the Mentat means us no harm, and that will be the case until such time that is no longer true."

  "By your will, I hear and obey." Needlesight bowed his head and made the gesture of deepest contrition. The rest made the sign of the Greater Good, and silence came back to the reception room for a time. At least, until at last the door at the other side slid open, and their guests strolled right in.

  First, two highly advanced drones hovered in, their many eyes scanning their surroundings while their tentacled arms swam through the air. Then a rock sculpture went through the threshold, floating in mid-air before Understone realized that it was alive. Its exoskeleton was composed of two parts, with the outer layer composed of large red blocks and the inner one made out of smooth, white pebbles. Two pairs of powerful arms dangled off its sides with a smaller, more delicate pair of vestigial legs positioned near the front of its mesa-shaped torso. At where a neck would be was instead a crown of white pyramids, the same color as its exoskeleton's second layer. There were no eyes that could be seen, nor a mouth or any kind of orifice that one would expect to find in an ordinary living being. Understone realized he had his work cut out for him. Finally, two more advanced drones rounded up the Ascentron's group, which the High Ambassador took as the cue to start talking.

  "Sorry about the wait. The ship got finicky trying to couple with your docking ports, which by the way are in remarkable shape for how well-used they are. But we're here now, and I gotta ask, couldn't we have gotten on a better orbital? I know I've seen bigger ones on the way here." The Mentat's voice came out of seemingly thin air, which now fully keyed in everyone else that the living Earth Caste art project was in fact the alien they had all met not a dec ago. "Oh you've got seats. That's very kind of you. I hope you don't mind I'm not actually sitting on them."

  "Not at all, please make yourself comfortable, Mentat?" Understone finally found his voice, reeling back in the tiny squeak that came out at the start of his sentence.

  "Yes, that's me. Or The Mentat, if you really want to be all formal about it. But we're not really in an official setting, are we? At least, not yet. There's something you want to confirm first, isn't that right, Aun'Eldi?" Even without eyes, the alien had managed to single out the High Ethereal from every other T'au present. An unspoken tension ran between Aun'Eldi's two ethereal guards, both of which took an imperceptible half-step forward.

  "You are most correct, Mentat. Your people's sudden arrival in this Sept has brought great concern and panic among the populace. As the head of those tasked with the wellbeing and safety of my people, I would like to know first and foremost your intentions of intruding into T'au space. Whether you be friend, or foe." Aun'Eldi's face was a study of classical ethereal grace and poise, his words soothing yet unrelenting; a stream whose flow cannot be dammed.

  "I see. That does make sense. I can tell you now that the Oracle has no wish to war upon anyone who means us no harm. We were simply trying to get our bearings in this new universe, that's all." Faces of confusion flashed through most of the T'au present, save for Shadeguard, whose pupils widened until his eyes were consumed by them. Even Aun'Eldi was caught off-guard by the Mentat's choice of words, unsure if it was mistake in translation or some Ascentron word that couldn't be properly described by the T'au Lexicon.

  "If that is the case, then I declare the Ascentron to be our honored guests. Let it all be known that the T'au are generous with their friends, and merciless to their foes. I will leave you to it, High Ambassador Understone." Aun'Eldi nodded at the Water Caste T'au before sitting back down, eyes closed in an attempt at deep meditation.

  "Thank you, ethereal master. Now-"

  "Wait a moment. Before we go any further, I'd my friends to introduce themselves first. Make sure we all don't get off on the wrong foot." Any questions Understone was about to ask died in his throat as he watched those same highly advanced drones he'd dismissed out of hand change their forms before his very eyes. The roughly T'au sized automatons expanded in size and complexity, new parts coming online and humming with power that reminded the High Ambassador of the Fire Caste's Battlesuits. Fire Caste warriors arrayed themselves into firing squads with their pulse rifles at the ready, while the other castes scrambled to get out of the way of the coming conflict.

  "What is the meaning of this?!" High Commander Needlesight shouted, aiming his custom pulse rifle at the Mentat's dead center. While the T'au scrambled to regain their order, the Ascentrons finished their transformations. Each were the size of a T'au Crisis Battlesuit, towering over everyone else in the orbital's reception area. One skittered on multiple legs, panels jutting out of its back while a large eye denoted its face. Another flew on back-mounted jets, its three pairs of limbs retracted into stubs on its chest. The other two Ascentrons took on T'au-like forms, standing on two legs. No T'au would confess to having four arms, however, nor would they wave around prehensile tails almost as long as they were tall.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "These are my peers. They are scientists. They are Ascentron." Those three simple sentences bounced around in the minds of every T'au present, especially in one Shadeguard who looked like he was about to faint from the excitement. "They couldn't fit through the hallway, so they had to shrink back down to something smaller."

  "You couldn't have told us that the Ascentrons were machines beforehand?" Aun'Eldi spoke up, his previous serene aura now replaced with unyielding steel. "This is highly irregular behavior, Mentat."

  "I didn't think that was something worth nothing about." The Mentat spoke honestly, "But I can see now that was a mistake. Apologies, everyone. Can you please lower your weapons now?" High Commander Needlesight scowled at the alien's demand, but one look from Aun'Eldi and the Fire Caste T'au acquiesced, followed soon after by his subordinates.

  "I think this calls for a re-introduction." The Ascentron whose prehensile tail was colored bright red spoke up. "My name is Navi Kibi, and I'm a scientist."

  "I'm Ansion Exa. Nice to meet you." The Ascentron with a bright blue tail spoke up, waving his two right arms at the T'au present. "Oh, I'm a scientist too."

  "As you might have already guessed by now, we are all scientists. I am known as Simul Zetta." The Ascentron whose look reminded Understone uncomfortably of the Arachen spoke up.

  "I am Zation Mebi. Pleased to meet you all." The last Ascentron said his piece, hovering around comfortably with the propulsion from his back-jets.

  "Shall we get back to the discussions at hand?" The Mentat spoke up, seemingly unaware of the heightened tension that had now befallen the reception area. "Or do we adjourn for now and get back to it once we're in somewhere more appropriate?" Understone was of two minds about that. For one, they have, at the very least, a better idea of who their new guests were now. But what little they do know wouldn't be of much help with how soured the mood were now with the Ascentron's surprise.

  No, we have to get a win. Understone thought as he gave Needlesight a passing glance of disapproval. Information for information. We need to know more about them, and they need to know more about us. Start with something small, and then work from there.

  "It's fine, Mentat. We can continue our discussions here for now. But please, moving forward, can you not spring any more surprises like this on us? We of the T'au have had to deal with a lot of nasty ones as our empire expanded through the stars." Understone laid down a simple request to the Mentat, who mulled over the matter for a second before giving a nod.

  "Are there not machine empires in this galaxy?" Simul Zetta spoke up, leaning down so his one eye could look at Understone better. "It was common enough back home."

  "Not to my knowledge, no." Understone replied, seizing the opportunity to ask more questions. "We have many alien species in the T'au Empire, but none of them are like you. Where are you all from?"

  "It's a long story." Ansion Exa said, switching gears once he realized he would need to give the T'au something to work with. "But we Ascentrons came from an ocean planet called Dekronia. We lived in the depths peacefully for many years until at last we decided to look out beyond the waves and see what the stars have to offer."

  "Do you have a map of the galaxy? We've been flying blind ever since we came out of that Shroud portal." Zation Mebi asked, unaware of the sudden spike of tension running through the T'au present.

  "The Shroud portal." Understone repeated, looking at Aun'Eldi to see the ethereal's reaction to that little tidbit of information. "Did you Ascentrons make said portal?"

  "No, we found it by chance while trying to get out. Why? Did some of you get caught in that?" The Mentat asked, his mind only now beginning to piece together the reason why the T'au had been so agitated when they first arrived in-system. Understone looked at Aun'Eldi for permission to proceed, seeing as the loss of the Fourth Sphere of Expansion was rapidly becoming a stain on the T'au Empire's record of glorious rapid expansion. An official narrative was already being put in place wherein the lost fleet had instead completed their simultaneous jumps and were now safely in-transit beyond the reaches of the Damocles Gulf's flames. Aun'Eldi knew all this and narrowed his eyes at Understone. The meaning was clear.

  "Yes, some of our people were unfortunately caught and we're trying to get them back. We would appreciate any help we can get on the matter." Understone smoothly swept over the whole thing under the rug. "You can see why we were so nervous at your arrival to our system."

  "You thought we were responsible for that." Navi Kibi said out loud what every T'au had thought was true. "The timing is rather uncanny if what you say is true."

  "It is." Understone said tightly, "We are at war with many foes, and this tragedy has not helped us at all. It is a great loss, and one we would not soon forget." A moment of reflection passed as all the T'au present mourned the senseless taking of their kindred, and what it represented for the empire as a whole.

  "My condolences." The Mentat spoke, followed with similar sentiments by the Ascentron. "Tragedy oft follows the bold; those who would tread the paths no one else dares. We know a thing or two about that, believe it or not." A dark mood passed through the Mentat before leaving as quickly as it came.

  "So, why have you come here, Mentat? What do you want, really?" Understone spoke at last the meat of the matter, which both the T'au and the Ascentrons have been dancing around now for almost an hour.

  "We would like some survey information about the star systems in your empire. Specifically ones that are not inhabited by anyone, including your empire. We would like to settle down and find somewhere safe where we can figure out our next moves from here on out." The Mentat spoke, his tone even as ever. "Of course, we would be more than happy to trade with you several things from our storage. Raw materials and processed goods. All kinds of services of every variety that you can imagine and more. Even some of our tech should an acceptable research agreement be drafted for perusal by our legal departments. We Ascentrons are, first and foremost, a Megacorp dedicated to bringing the very best the universe has to offer, both the one before and this one."

  "We would be more than happy to provide you with the survey data. However, as to the matter of you settling worlds within our space is something beyond my authority as the leader of Au'Taal Sept. You'd have to make your appeal directly to the Ethereal Council at T'au." Aun'Eldi spoke up, taking over from Understone. "Aside from that, you are still quite an unknown in our empire, Mentat. You have a spaceship that dwarfs even the Air Caste' orbital cities and fortress stations. Your method of FTL apparently discharges so much power that it can knock out surrounding fleets and orbital stations. You are dangerous."

  "Are you kicking us out?" Navi Kibi asked, hugging his red tail as it curled around an arm.

  "No. I have given you my word that you are to be considered as honored guests of the T'au. Even after your unwelcome surprise, Ascentrons, I will not revoke my word on the matter. You may stay in Au'Taal Sept until such times that my fellow Ethereals declare that you cannot." Aun'Eldi stood up from his seat, followed by the rest of the Elemental Council. "In five rotaa, I will hold a celebration in your honor. I believe that is sufficient time for the rest of the empire to arrive and deliberate further on the matter of your request. Is that acceptable, Mentat?"

  "Five rotaa, hold on, how long is that?" The Mentat asked. Understone gave a subtle eye-flick at one of his aides, who hurriedly moved forward with a holo-tablet on hand already filled with the requisite information about the T'au's way of keeping time. "I see, that is a lot of time. It's unfortunate we couldn't seal the deal now, but I am glad we have come to an agreement all the same. Shall we shake to it?" The Mentat floated forward towards Aun'Eldi, his two right arms held up in a friendly gesture. The ethereal considered the appendages for a moment before grasping it with his own right hand, shaking each limb firmly and nodding as Water Caste T'au scrambled to commit the event to history.

  So ends the T'au Empire and Ascentron Circurrency's first ever meeting.