Upon leaving subspace, sensors on the ship began to pick up bountiful information. Matija was familiar enough with most of the details to parse what they had, but she was specialized in a narrower field. She was only chosen for this excursion because of her and her crew’s experience- and her strength, if necessary. She could make optimal use of the ship’s reasonable complement of weapons, augmenting them for efficiency or power as necessary with her cultivation.

It was Rutera’s hope that such things would be unnecessary- but they knew that practically they had to be prepared. The trifold alliance still maintained their defensive pact after the war, but it wouldn’t do much good for lost exploration ships if they were avenged later. Besides, as the weakest of the three systems Rutera was still striving to come into their own power. The Independence helped greatly, but it wasn’t like they could easily make massive battleships. The costs in labor and materials weren’t small by any means, and now that they weren’t actively in a war the expenses were harder to justify.

So individuals who were further along in cultivation for whatever reason were necessary, and that put Matija at a higher priority than others. She still had some additions to her crew to help out, but she was in charge because it was easier to not swap command structures for battle. Not that it had been relevant so far, and hopefully it would stay that way.

Their job was to do a complete but not in-depth sweep of the system, sensing for life and technology. It was still odd for Matija to think that Rutera’s way of life was less common, but with the entire upper realms being full of cultivators there was sufficient evidence, at least for that area. There was some possibility that further towards the edge of the galaxy natural energy might be weaker and lead towards more technological civilizations, if any. The question was if they would be human, and if they were how they arrived. That, nobody seemed to know.

The reason they were not probing too deeply despite it possibly revealing something minor was that nobody wanted to annoy someone like a Worldbinding cultivator. Anton had been a rather pleasant encounter, especially for encountering people poking around his sun, but most people wouldn’t necessarily react so nicely. Even a decent person could feel a bit impatient or default to violence when they felt threatened, and that was not the image of a ‘typical cultivator’. If nothing else, they would try to place themselves in an advantageous position.

There was beeping on a nearby console. “Unusual natural energy signatures detected, ma’am.”

“Unusual how?” Matija asked.

“Looks like elevated levels… perhaps intentional flow.”

They’d come across a few anomalies like that before, but Matija once more integrated herself with the ship’s sensory units. It wasn’t a state that could be maintained long term like a normal cultivator sensing, but it enhanced both her and the ship. Instead of a particularly interesting volcano or a storm, Matija was met with a planet that definitely had natural energy. More than just a little, and not just naturally flowing about.

This had not been one of their prime candidates as it seemed too cold to sustain life, but that was only from telescopic observations originating in their own systems. Yet here it was, signs of cultivators. As Matija’s senses touched the peaks of icy mountains, she felt a response, a cultivator’s sense intersecting with her own like crossing ripples in a pond.

“Reporting contact,” Matija began, concocting a message back to Rutera. There would be no response, as the message would take days in each direction. That meant after she reported the location and details she had, discretion on how to act had to be up to her. There were protocols in place, but ultimately the actual discretion was in her hands.

She could move on, letting the decision be made without her of whether to send a diplomat… or she could engage on her own. A difficult decision as they coasted closer to the planet, but one she had to decide fairly quickly. After all, they had already been detected. Remaining away showed a level of timidity- or perhaps stealth and subterfuge. If only she could judge a person from their senses momentarily touching.

“We’ll be landing, or at least attempting a descent,” Matija said. “Keep shields up, ready to adapt to incoming fire.” Unless they came back with ships specifically equipped for battle, any ambassador wouldn’t be particularly better defended than this current science ship. The last decades had provided significant changes in the capabilities of Ruteran ships, and Matija was supplied with something top of the line. That might have something to do with knowing the top general and a patriarch from another world, but Matija hadn’t leaned on her connections to get her position. This was what they decided was required for a scout.

Matija kept her thoughts on the weapons, but didn’t ask for power to be routed to any of them. That would mean a moment of delay if battle came about, but avoiding displays of aggression which a cultivator might be able to read were the priority.

As they got closer, Matija casually sensed more cultivators- only on the peaks. She knew cultivators liked mountain peaks, but it was odd that there were no signs of settlements lower down. There were signs of life, though a casual scan couldn’t say much. Plants were sparse at best, which was understandable for the planet being below the freezing point of ice all over its surface. In fact, the mountain peaks seemed to have the most heat.

They continued onward, Matija guiding them towards the individual who had sensed her. They moved at deliberate speed, not too rapidly but not slowly or with any intent to conceal their presence. As they got closer, Matija felt those same senses lock onto them.

Soon enough they were close enough for the sensors to pick out a good landing area- nearby, but not directly in the middle of the cultivators they had sensed. It was also removed enough that if there were any attacks they would hopefully be able to retreat by staying out of the enemy’s range.

Enhanced visuals came up on the forward screen as they entered the atmosphere- though it was extremely thin so high up. They had mostly matched velocity with the planet, so the rigors of reentry were not too harsh- though the shields would have absorbed the heat regardless.

Matija’s visual focus was on the same individual, who could now be seen leaping towards them, stepping on clouds as she went. The sensors were just good enough to pick up details that indicated the figure was a woman. As she came closer, her movements did not change, neither hurrying nor tallying. Her swift leaps were simply for the sake of surmounting the distance between clouds, surfaces which barely seemed to notice her weight as the old woman’s bare feet touched upon them.

It seemed better not to land without permission, but unfortunately it was difficult to communicate and indicate personhood without. Still, Matija had the pilot hover while she prepared the speakers. There was little outside noise to pick up, but the thin atmosphere also might make it difficult. The question that Matija was not qualified to answer was whether this individual would find it more respectful to be spoken to first or not. Ultimately she had to be practical… and if things went wrong, she was fairly confident in the ship being able to withstand the woman’s attacks.

She was a Life Transformation cultivator, late stage or perhaps approaching the peak, but Matija was aware how much those could vary in strength. Matija went for a proactive approach. “Greetings, esteemed elder.” Hopefully, the outside volume was reasonable. At the very least, it should be recognizable as speech. “We come in peace.”

There was now less than a few hundred meters between the ship and the woman, close enough the distance could be closed almost immediately. Matija repeated the message, then the visual sensors picked up movements of the woman’s mouth. The microphones did not hear much, and after a moment Matija realized the woman was projecting her voice through her energy. Their shields would block that, especially weak as the effort was, so they only got the remnants of the sound wherever it broke apart.

Matija extended her own energy, possessing the power of Essence Collection, potentially not too far from Life Transformation herself. She repeated her greeting, and she heard a response. It was definitely speech, but she didn’t quite get it. It was certainly more like the language Ceretos or Weos spoke than that of Rutera, but it wasn’t quite comprehensible.

“Tune the shields to not resist low energy,” Matija instructed. “We need this to get to the translator units.”

It didn’t take long for the translators to manage something- and Matija realized why. There was not just an accent, but more obscure or archaic words. “From whence dost thou come?” the old woman asked once more. It was strange that the language here was so divergent when even the Sylanis Cluster shared the vast majority of the same language, but Matija didn’t have time to think about that.

“We hail from the stars above,” Matija said, with the translator repeating her words slightly changed. Now that she realized what was happening Matija could sort of understand without her translator, but she’d never studied that aspect of the language. It had been included in the translation programs just in case.

“The upper realms?” the woman continued forward, alighting on a cloud no more than a dozen meters away.

“No. Different parts of the lower realms,” Matija said. She didn’t want a misunderstanding. She displayed as much sincerity as possible through her energy as she could.

“Display your visage,” the woman demanded.

Matija looked down. “We must land below.” Perhaps she should have waited, but things seemed to be going fine for the moment. Off comms, Matija instructed the crew. “I will step out alone. If I am attacked, flee without me. You can fight as you wish, but I doubt you will have many chances to accelerate.”

More figures could be sensed further up the mountains, those with the same sort of aura as the old woman. They were a bit more hurried, but slower, walking on the snow instead of leaping onto clouds.

The woman didn’t object as they landed on a section that was indicated to be sufficiently solid to support their ship- the ice and snow were quite variable in thickness and solidity. Matija stepped out, keeping a personal translator on her, connected to the ship. It would also record what was said.

“Here I am, elder,” Matija inclined her head politely as she stepped down the ramp. She carried herself with what confidence she had, at least aware that the potential danger was lower than Anton… though she hadn’t even been prepared to understand that at the time.

“A woman. Human,” the old woman nodded, her long flowing robes strangely leaving her hands, head, and feet uncovered. “You seek enlightenment.”

It wasn’t a question, as far as Matija could tell. In a way, perhaps she did… but it could mean many things. “We have our own paths to enlightenment,” she said. “What brought our ship here was a desire for greater understanding of our surroundings.”

The additional cultivators that somewhat worried Matija were closer still, but they now maintained a respectful distance. Presumably, they were lesser disciples of the sect. “Our words are not the same,” the woman said. “Yet they are. You know about the upper realms?”

“Their existence. Some details. Not everything,” Matija hoped those short sentences would translate well. So far, the woman felt calm and peaceful, but that could easily change if offended.

“How many of your people have reached ascension?” the woman asked after a pause.

“Of us? None. But we know of those who have.” Matija didn’t want to promise that she could bring by someone who knew a lot about ascension… but she could. “Is ascension your goal?”

“It is the goal of all except those who have given up hope,” the woman said.

Bleak. But perhaps true.

“We should introduce ourselves. I am Matija.”

“Janae,” the woman responded. “Speak of your travels between the stars.” A combined offer and command, but Matija was willing to entertain both to some extent. Especially if it meant continued peaceful communication.