Treasure of Two Empires [Att: The Holy Solar Empire][FT]

by **Fenvaria Republic** » Fri Feb 18, 2022 11:10 am

Koghdurahl system
Uncolonized
Edge of Imperial Controlled Space

“Ma’am, we are reaching the end of our hyperspace jump” reported the Navigation Command Station officer as they turned around in their chair, looking up towards the Lord Captain who sat in the commander's chair on the raised middle platform behind them.

“Excellent,” replied the Lord Captain Vladislavovna with a short and commanding nod as she looked down at the rest of the bridge crew. She then retrieved her cigar case from her steel gray naval coat and pulled out one of the large cigars, clipping off the end of the cigar she then placed it in her mouth and lit it. “Interal, prepare all stations for FTL drop and bring us to ready stations. Gunnery, bring all weapons systems online, there is no telling what we will find out here on the frontier.”

“Aye aye, Lord Captain.'' Replied the two stations simultaneously and it wasn't long before the bridge lights shut off, throwing the bridge into darkness for a few moments before the red emergency lights kicked on giving the bridge an eerie red glow. After a few seconds after the red lights kicked on, a low siren sounded, telling the crew members to prepare stations. With a small grin on her face, Lord Captain Vladislavovna then pulled out a silver colored cerami-metal cigar lighter and lit her cigar. Letting the end of the cigar burn for a few moments she then flicked the lighter close with a metallic click. She then placed it back into her jacket and took a drag from her cigar.

At first glance, the Lord Captain Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna appeared to be your typical fenvarian, however she stood around five feet six and half inches tall, making her slightly taller than the rest of the fenvarians around her. Her ears and tail, common features to the fenvarians, were shorter and not as fluffy, hinting at a feline linage. However, unique to her was her eyes which appeared to have brownish red irises with hints of emerald in them. Like many of the officers and veteran naval personnel within the Imperial Navy, she had a number of visible scars on her face. The most impressive of which was a massive scar that ran down from her ear, across her neck and to her collar bone.

As for her uniform, she wore the typical officer Naval Combat Uniform of the Imperial Astro Navy, which consisted of an officers cap, steel gray peacoat like jacket, a white formal shirt under the peacoat, black combat pants and boots. She also wore a belt which held a pistol holster, spare magazine pouch, and finally a scabbard for her M1 bayonet/shortsword. On the cuffs and collar flaps of her jacket sat the rank of Lord Captain, commander of her flotilla formation. Said formation was made up of around 20 warships, making it a rather hefty show of force out here on the frontier. Making up the flotilla was five (5) Type 24 Patrol Gunboats, five (5) Type 114 Escort Destroyers, six (6) Type 250 Heavy Cruisers, two (2) Type 254 Escort Carriers, one (1) Type 255 Fleet Monitor, and finally one (1) Grey Wolf class Battlecruiser. The lone battlecruiser served as her flagship for this mission, while many would have viewed the battlecruiser to be a bit heavy for a patrolling flotilla, she was comfortable with the excessive armor and weapons it had.

“Ten seconds until FTL drop.” reported the Navigation Command Station officer with a monotone voice as she looked up from her screen. “Dropping out at point 271, plane 3.”

“Acknowledged, ten seconds until FTL drop.” Replied the Lord Captain as she took another drag from her cigar and exhaled. “Communications, telegram all ships and inform them to keep in patrol mode once we have exited FTL. Sensors, I want all sensors online and scanning for any pirate activity once we drop out of FTL, deploy VA/D-50s in deep recon.”

“Five seconds” there was a long pause as the bridge dropped into silence for the last five seconds of their jump. Around the twenty ship flotilla, the blinking streaks of black and white slowly stopped, lighting soon crackled around them and with a flash of light, the ships appeared on the far edge of the system near their projected drop out point. Around the ships, billions of stars twinkled around them and at the center of the system sat a large F class star with at least 9 planets in the system.

“Jump successful with a deviation of .27 from our projected drop point” reported the Navigation Command Station officer

“Acceptable, begin all patrol post jump procedures, have all stations and ships check in.” ordered the Lord Captain with a semi bored tone as she looked out into the system in front of her. It was something that she had done hundreds of thousands of times in her lifetime and service to the Empire. She honestly hated doing patrols on this side of the Empire, they were boring and often nothing really exciting happened. She yearned for the days of her younger career as a captain, the rush of commanding her cruiser into battle and the erratic displays of fire during the dozens of yearly border skirmishes with the Commonwealth and Kingdom.

“All stations are reporting in, no casualties and the FTL core shows no signs of stress during the jump.” reported the Internal Command Station officer “We are venting built up heat as we speak. VA/D-50s are currently being prepared for scouting and patrol missions.”

“All ships are checking in Lord Captain, they report no casualties and no problems during the jump” stated the Communications Command Station officer

“Sensors are reporting no incoming threats or debris around us, we are clear to proceed with system patrol.” also reported the Sensor Command Station officer.

“Gunnery crews have reported in, all gunnery stations are manned and prepared for any hostile actions” finally reported the Gunnery Command Station officer

“With all post jump procedures complete, Navigation, once all ships have finished venting their heat, bring the flotilla into the system and prepare to conduct system patrol operations.”

Hours Later

“Lord Captain, I am picking up several large rogue planetoids near the far edge of the system.” reported one of the sensor station officers, turning around in their chair.

Curious in this report, Lord Captain Vladislavovna raised an eyebrow, moments later she then stood up from her command chair and walked down the stairs of the raised platform to the sensor station. Leaning over the left shoulder of the officer she looked at the sensor screen, she looked at the massive blob that appeared in the top right hand corner of the screen. Saying nothing she then stood back up and turned to communications “Communications, send telegram to GB-479 and ED-887 and confirm no faulty sensor reading.”

“Aye aye”

With that out of the way, the Lord Captain then turned to the sensor officer and looked back at the blob. “Estimated size of rogue planetoid?”

“Approximately, 20km to 25km in length however it is hard to tell just from this.” replied the sensor officer as he waved his around, gesturing to the crude two color radar like screen. “However, every so often some small objects come buzzing around it before disappearing. Most likely asteroids of some kind that came with it, colliding into one another and creating more debris.”

“Interesting,” Vladislavovna replied, rubbing her chin as her ears twitched “And their heading?”

“Currently, we project they will enter into the nearby star’s orbit at some point, and it may take a few Arcadian weeks or even months for that to happen.”

“Understood, anything else I should know about?”

“Negative ma’am.”

“Excellent, carry on. Communications! Any word from GB-479 and ED-887 about their sensor reports?”

“Hot off the press ma’am, both GB-479 and ED-887 report similar pings on their Passive Deep Space Radar sensors. Also got a report from ED-998 and CA-465 reporting an additional two rogue planetoids near the 25km planetoid, they are also picking up some sort of deep space feedback.”

‘What in the blinding hell is going on?” mumbled the Lord Captain as she looked back to the radar screen for a moment, on one hand they could move in and investigate these anomalies however that might end poorly for the Imperial flotilla all the way on the far reaches of the Empire. On the other hand, they can simply catalog the anomaly and report it back to the Center of Interplanetary Travel in Roon Husila and any nearby colonized systems, this would be the most efficient use of their time since they had other systems to patrol. But, something didn't sit right with her as she kept looking back at the screen and reanalyzed the information she had.

“Communications, order all ships to full speed and bring us in range of those anomalies. Keep the formation at patrol stance, we don't know if these are creatures or just rogue planetoids, or perhaps they are ships of some sort.”

by **The Holy Solar Empire** » Sun Feb 20, 2022 10:51 am

The Great Imperial Treasure Fleet Supreme Envoy of the Great Treasure Voyage,
110th year of the Sol Sankta Rémia Grand Chancellor of the Palace Estate,
16th year of the Phoenix Emperor Galileo Omero de Artuso
9970 AD Aboard the designated Flagship, Battlecruiser Zheng He

It is the 100th century, the Holy Solar Empire has stood for more than a 1000 years, unchallenged in it's domain as the supreme power within the Orion Arm; more than a thousand worlds fall under the Empire's banner, with many more paying tribute to the Vicegerent of God. The Empire is a nightmare of byzantine bureaucracy and countless vassal states, each who play off each other to gain the favor of the Celestial Throne. The Sol Sankta has for centuries looked inward, giving little thought to the outside galaxy outside of those who have already shown submission, a policy that had been maintained by the Rémian Dynasty.

The political situation the Empire finds itself is one of ever increasing complexity; from within, the petty squabbles of vassal lords herald the many battles which blanket the stars, as countless tides of levies augment the retinues of their Kings armies, fighting in endless wars to expand their lieges domain. From without, the Empire is surrounded, besides its many tributaries there lay many petty states which covet the Empire's wealth; Marauders, stellar nomads without a planet to call their own, routinely raid and test the fleets of the Empire near the fringe, and more distantly other Empires, once great rivals to the Empire, work to regain their former strength, all for a chance to enact their revenge.

The Empire's wealth in rare resources has made it the premier destination for foreign merchants, many who seek to trade within the Empire's designated ports for all manner of rare crystals and exotic gases among other things. This has been how things were done for as long as anyone can remember, after all it is other governments who send their traders, the Empire rarely ever has it's merchants leave it's borders, after all if there is something the Empire wants abroad, then those foreigners will likely trade it for what the Empire has anyways. Indeed the Holy Solar Empire's wealth is vast and breath taking, with even the cities of minor Kings filled with grand cathedrals laden with gold, the people living now do not know it, but they are at the apex of a golden age, and while things will only decline from here, they shall enjoy an era of unmatched prosperity.

And yet despite this the Empire grows restless, for the first time in centuries it stirs and is beginning to look outward from itself with renewed interest. The galaxy outside has grown ever more complex, as foreign states every bit the Empire's equal clash in titanic wars, the trade which brings rare resources and tribute becomes threatened, as pirates plunder the rich trade routes throughout, the general chaos has begun to affect the Empire negatively, it is apparent something must be done. And so it is in 9966 that the Phoenix Emperor, Matheo Louis-François de le Rémi-Soleil, ordered the construction of a vast fleet with the goal of illuminating the wealth and superiority of the Sol Sankta Rémia, a mighty treasure fleet to awe the barbarians and hopefully encourage them to pay into the tributary system.

The head of such an operation was to be the Emperors chief secretary; the Grand Chancellor of the Palace Estate, Galileo Omero de Artuso, who was given the title of Supreme Envoy. The experienced bureaucrat was a close friend to the Emperor, and one of his most experienced men; a eunuch since his early twenties, Galileo had already long proved his competence, enough so to reach one of the most prestigious offices within the Imperial Bureaucracy. When the treasure fleet was first completed in late 9967, he led the fleet to it's first voyage throughout the nearby tributary states, showering them in Imperial wealth and gaining tribute in exchange, reaffirming these countries dedication to the Celestial Throne, something completed well into 9968. The mission was considered a success and so by early 9969 he set out into his second voyage, once again leading a great fleet of ships to give away excess wealth, while also returning laden with tribute, this time from far away lands along the critical trade routes that had brought merchants to the Empire's borders.

Entry #34: The year of our Lord 9970,

It has been months since we had departed the borders of the Sol Sankta, and I feel we have already made great progress in our endeavors. Traveling along the known trade routes I had occasionally sent small flotillas to act as feelers, hoping to detect anything resembling civilization; beyond those who already show homage to the Celestial Throne, it took us some time before we encountered a new people ignorant of the wider galaxy. Our meeting with their leaders has been a success; they had as predicted, taken to the gifts we had bestowed upon them with vigor and had agreed to allow our missionaries work within their borders, it is the hope of the fleet that they will accept Christ in their hearts, it is not enough to just show subservience to his Vicegerent after all.

We left their system a week ago and continued along our journey, this time moving to some countries we do know to our west. We were hoping to bring the fleet there as well, but it would seem the xeno barbarians of the Vathumite Empire found themselves aggressed by their rival, and now their foes the Caeshin had invested one of their key words. I had held a war council to discuss how we should address this situation, but without a more clear reason for why the war had occurred or who should earn our support we have decided to settle to wait on the matter, assuming those in the Galactic Congress do not decide to interfere in the matter, we will return to settle the conflict one way or another after some time.

In the mean time, we had decided to avoid their space entirely and have taken a indirect route around their space, I had felt it was better to not needlessly antagonize the two states, even if I am more than confident in our ability to push our way through, after all it wouldn't exactly bring harmony if we had forced our way across a war zone, let us have more class than those fallen empires who pay no mind to those around them, humility goes a long way after all. Either way our advance has been slowed considerably, this section of the galaxy is barely explored, at least by our records, if any other empire we know has explored this region of space, they surely did not reveal this. We had detected some anomalies near the hyperspace routes here, the Bishop of the fleet has assured us it is nothing to be concerned with, I won't dream of doubting the quality of their oracle, but it is never easy casting away such concerns.

All said, we shall be exiting hyperspace soon enough, I had sent a forward party to scout the system ahead of us and deploy an accelerator, the debt we are incurring with the vast fleet is slowing the fleet, I've considered splitting the fleet more often to compensate but then that has it's own problems. As I write the ship has begun the processing of slowing down, by the hours end it should have slowed down enough that our entry into realspace will be safe, may we be thankful that hyperspace cheats for us a little bit.

In the name of our most August, Heavenly Phoenix Prince of the Corporeal Realm, Emperor of Emperors, Blessed Lord of Time and Space, Vicegerent of God, our most Holy Solar Emperor, Matheo Louis-François de le Rémi-Soleil, 3rd of the Sol Sankta Rémia, may his reign be remembered beyond Ten-thousand years, in perpetuity.

Formally, the Grand Chancellor of the Palace Estate and Supreme Envoy of the Great Treasure Voyage, Galileo Omero de Artuso

In the pitch black abyss of hyperspace, a great and mighty fleet traverses the great expanse of the stars with superluminal haste. A vast collection of ships from the small corvettes to mighty battlecruisers dance amongst each other as they slowly de-accelerate towards their end goal. However it is the ships which follow this great fleet that are a true marvel; the battlecruisers themselves, ships nearly a kilometer in length, are but mere gnats to the behemoths following them, their combined wake could shake even the mightiest fleets before them, and their hulls are each a grand mural, these 25 kilometer behemoths are the Treasure Ships of this voyage, full of countless wealth to bestow, or barren and hungry for tribute.

Within the center of the pack leading these great vessels was the designated flagship, a humble battlecruiser christened the Zheng He. It was within the keep of the ship where the Grand Captain of this fleet resided; a middle age man of Italian decent, Galileo Omero de Artuso was an experienced member of the palace bureaucracy and close friend to the Emperor, and had already once led a voyage with the fleet to reaffirm the pre-existing tributaries loyalty to the Sol Sankta. He had just finished his weekly report and felt the urge to return to sleep, he had been so focused on the mission he forgot to do so the night prior, so he set to write it up first thing in the morning.

Galileo was a bit annoyed at the detour, the council agreed that the best course of action was to take a detour and wait for the situation among the barbarians to stabilize before acting, but that didn't mean he couldn't be upset, he couldn't blame the barbarians really, the Lord knew how often the various vassals of the Empire drew blood over petty enough reasons, only difference is that tended to happen if neither could reach a compromise through the courts, who was there to reign in the barbarians? The Galactic Congress talked a big game but they were about as useless as wooden plank in a hypercane.

The route they were taking was mostly unexplored, just pockets that were recorded countless centuries ago and the routes to them since lost until now. These routes were slightly anomalous in nature, which wasn't unheard of, despite the efforts of the fleets Bishop, he couldn't shake away the slight unease at the sheer number, last thing anyone needed was to run into a shadow of some entity from beyond the corporeal realm, who knew whats out here, this region was perfect place for some cultist to hang hide way. But then again what is a little exploration without risk? When Matroniano Manginelli crossed the barrier between space at light speed, was he so sure that he wouldn't be swallowed by the cosmos? Ah, the thought that humanity had the gall to travel space before even developing a proper hyperdrive, it was things like that which is why Humanity is Gods chosen people, shepherds to the flock that is the galaxy.

Galileo leaned forward and pushed himself away from his desk before getting up, quickly patting some wrinkles down he walked over to a small counter top and prepared himself some coffee and a biscuit, the radio in his study was currently narrating a duel of the minds currently happening on his ship, apparently two member's of the diplomatic staff had a spat and were now testing each others wit. Their current game was about of Shogi, green against silver, with silver winning the last three rounds, he didn't know much about the game to really keep up, but there was little to do at this time. A short time later he had his cup ready and took it with him as he left the confines of his room and into the outer hall of the inner keep.

Outside two guardsmen with halberds stood at attention, down the hall stood two more who guarded the connection to the bridge; Galileo took his time to reach the bridge, most of the crew would still be asleep at this time, but the bridge was always full one way or another, there was likely gonna be a changing of the guard soon given how tired they were likely, they earned their rest in his eyes. With a yawn he entered the bridge of the Zheng He, still in his sleep wear he felt no worries about it, he wasn't a full time captain after all, and given the nature of the mission everyone allowed a degree of casualness when on long voyages, thankfully his cloak allowed for a veneer of formal attire.

"Attention on deck! I present the Supreme Envoy of the Fleet, Galileo Omero de Artuso!" The herald called out, gaining the bridges attention as a still sleepy Galileo walked in before lazily sitting down into his command chair. Most of the bridge staff were still fairly formal, they were the main staff that had already woken up earlier, they were far more accustomed to life aboard ships than many of the crew, it was something he couldn't quite deal with, but they assured him that he'll get used to it.

"How much time until we exist hyperspace?" He asked the navigator, the young man quickly looked over at a screen before turning to him. "About 3 hours sir, plenty of time for most of the fleet to be awake and ready for arrival."

Galileo nodded at that and took the time to finish his crude breakfast, that would make it a 6 hour journey in hyperspace, he knew that this hyperlane connection was a long one, and he hoped that the accelerator he sent on the other side would have helped speed things up, but he knew it could only help so much, with the treasure fleet following close behind the sheer mass of the fleet was gonna slow them down, that was just how a hyperlane worked. Either way it was enough time for him to waken up, leave to get properly dressed and return to find the bridge full of activity. The Shogi match finally ended with silver crushing green, now hopefully the two could get some rest since they were having their competitions hours before he first woke up.

"Sir, we're nearing the end of the hyperspace jump, we finished the last bit of our counter thrust and will break the barrier in the next twenty minutes."

"Good, pray to the Lord that we finally come across something positive out in these uncharted systems then, we most surely are in need of it." He responded, everyone took his advice to heart, they needed something interesting to spice things up. He sat up from his command chair and made his way towards the center of the bridge where he could see the various staff working their terminals beside and below him. "Coms, give me a fleet access will you."

"Yes sir, you're live." Came the response.

"Attention to the fleet, this is your captain speaking, as you should surely know, we are twenty minutes out from our exit point. If you have not already, I suggest you warm up your weapons, activate your barriers, and begin scanning once we exit, we will form a multi-plane defense several kilometers out, I want the potential for overlapping fields of fire, no telling what is out there, that will be all for now, standby for further orders." He finished as the connection ended.

He turned his head to look at the camera feed out ahead, the haunting blue haze before started to expand as they closed in on exiting into realspace. Eventually the blue light shifted it's color until it was invisible, the background radiation was now gone, and shortly after the stars themselves returned to view as the fleet has now slowed down significantly. Finally after a fleet wide confirmation, the ships entered realspace once more, if one could see from the right angle, it would have appeared as streaks of blue zooming into reality until they suddenly slowed down significantly, an oddity of exiting hyperspace. Immediately the fleet began scanning the system for anything that may prove a threat to the fleet, especially for the treasure ships that were coming in from behind.

"All systems nominal captain, fleet is moving into position and the forward flotilla is regrouping as we speak."

"Good... good, tell them they may stop jamming the system and have the tugs bring the hyperspace accelerator into formation." He said has he walked back towards his command chair and sat down, almost immediately the coms sent forward a message to the flotilla, which soon complied. As the fleet began to spread out, all manner of data began to make it's way to the bridge of the Zheng He.

"First of the treasure fleet is exiting in seconds Captain!"

"Any sign of hostiles, anything anomalous?" Galileo asked, the sensors staff quickly reviewed the data before them.

"Just a moment sir.... we're getting some readings sir, right now we believe we picked up around 20 objects, data suggest they may be artificial." Artificial? That could be either very promising, or very dangerous, where they pirates? rogue drones? Better not be any of those damn thinking crystals.

"Captain, objects appear to be accelerating in our direction!" That could be a bad sign, it confirmed they were ships, but the fact they are moving suggest that either they couldn't properly make out his fleet, or they could have were looking for a fight. There were only a few things out in the galaxy that would willingly engage a fleet of his size, a few he would rightfully be afraid off, he really hoped they needed to get better data, although he knew one thing for sure, there should be no empire he knew of out this far.

"Prepare for first contact, I want the clerics to try and get a reading on these xenos, do not under any circumstance fire unless fired upon or they threaten to board the ship am I understood?" Well, it seems things were about to get interesting.

Treasure Fleet of the Rémian Dynasty:

The ultimate objective behind the treasure voyages were of a military, diplomatic, religious, and commercial nature, with each part of the armada aiding in the completion of the task. For example, it was the goal of the Phoenix Emperor to further monopolize the trade routes which drew in the known nations of the galaxy so that they may better conduct trade within the Empire, many of these hyperlanes were unclaimed and were often targets of pirates seeking to steal whatever was either going in or out of the Empire, routes which for the mean time where poorly patrolled due to the series of long wars outside the Orion arm. These routes then must be secured by means of military might, and reinforced with loyal nations closer by who are tempted by further Imperial wealth.

Further by encouraging foreign entities to participate within the tributary system it would further the Imperial coffers while also adding to the Prestige of the reigning dynasty. Indeed the desire for attaining new tributary states was also the shroud in which the diplomatic goals were primarily concerned, by attaining new tributaries from hence far away places would extend the hegemonic power of the Sol Sankta beyond merely it's part of the Orion Arm, not only adding prestige, but reinforcing the view that the Empire was a great power within the Galactic Congress, a international body of countless star nations which the Empire was but merely an observer in, but nonetheless held sway over many states.

Another reason for the voyages were to ultimately preserve the ideology of the Empire, as these expeditions contact foreign states considered small and vulnerable enough, they would be able to influence their astropolitics in such a way to benefit the Empire. Ultimately these foreign countries needed to submit to the supreme authority of the Sol Sankta, a state whose authority is believed to extend to all of reality, as mandated by God; by acknowledging this state of affairs and "taking part in the system" this would reinforce the state ideology. It is notable that such "tribute" only needed to be a token effort, as Imperial documents record, the various merchants from foreign empires do not participate in formal trade, instead giving tribute and being rewarded with gifts in exchange, this has the effect of artificially bolstering the influence of the Empire, something that will come to haunt the Empire in the future.

As outlined in Imperial political thought, those states which showed submission to the Sol Sankta, promised to not cause disharmony among their neighbors, and either participate in the tributary system or accept Imperial suzerainty, would naturally benefit from the prosperity of the Empire itself, thus expanding goodwill through the galaxy. Foreigners, whether they be great Kings or lowly peasants were encouraged to accept the Empires moral and cultural superiority, which ultimately came along with the proselytizing of the Christian faith, either through full conversion, or the encouragement to allow missionary work within their country. It was hoped that by gifting foreign rulers with a great deal of treasure, they could encourage them to at least open up to the Church in one way or another.

Foreign rulers who encountered the treasure fleet where encouraged to not only show humility before the Empire by recognizing it's inherent superiority, but by personally presenting tribute to the Rémian court, although it was acceptable to have them send their own envoy in their place to save face, the arrival of foreign rulers nonetheless was subtly encouraged with promises of further gifts along with parades and feast in their honor, as well as Imperial titles to further their legitimacy. It was seen that should a foreign ruler hold an Imperial title they may been seen as an extension of the Empire itself, this was of course not always feasible, depending on the peoples encountered it could only cause disharmony within their states.

In the end, the treasure fleets were an instrument of Imperial military and political dominance over it's neighbors, and a tool of religious expansionism. The arrival of great fleets of massive ships, many full of all sorts of treasures and items of interest, and others empty awaiting all manner of tribute, were meant to awe foreign lands by Imperial power and wealth. States visited would be given great wealth and would in return give their own, this would be considered tribute regardless of the sincerity of the state, and the Imperial military presence near the trade routes would secure the much needed trade of rare resources. The nature of the Voyage would however have the effect of expanding the known size of the galaxy and the polities within it, as the fleet encountered all sorts of new empires throughout.

Much like Matroniano Manginelli, the man who developed the first hyperdrive and was the first man to explore outside the solar system, many consider Galileo's Treasure Voyage to be a major step in galactic exploration. Many often fail to consider the sheer scale of the galaxy, the number of stars within, and the countless empires that remain undiscovered, indeed even recently there had been contact with flourishing civilizations that had previously been unaware of the sheer scale of galactic civilization. While the first voyage was more a show of the Empire's already existing tributaries, the fleets exploration would uncover many new entities that had previously been unknown to the galaxy as a whole.

In the end, the Treasure Fleets of the Phoenix Emperor would be remembered for the being the marker of Imperial height, never before had the Empire been so wealthy that it could freely give away entire star systems worth of treasure, and it will never reach such heights again, some will come to say that the reign of the Rémian dynasty will be the undisputed apex, the final great song before the golden age ends, and the decline sets in. Those within the Holy Solar Empire see themselves at the metaphorical end of history, but as history show,s what has been united shall become divided, for now let us explore one such story in this latest iteration of Terran hegemony in their small corner of the galaxy, a story of the Treasure of Two Empires.

by **Fenvaria Republic** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 7:01 pm

Koghdurahl system
Uncolonized
Edge of Imperial Controlled Space

“Ma’am, we have another report of a kilometer object hanging around the foremost 25km rogue planetoid. This time from GB-1090 and CA-1988’s VA/D-50, they are reporting it is keeping up with the object at significant speeds.” replied one of the sensor officers, turning around and looking up at the Lord Captain after they had archived the report.

Lord Captain Vladislavovna bit down on her cigar and growled as she looked over the reports from the various scouting craft that she had ordered out previously. Like the one that just came in, reports have been steadily flowing in and she began to see clearly what they were facing. From the time they had left the edge of the system to their current position, which was roughly around the orbit of the 6th planet in the system, more and more contacts started to appear on the Deep Space Passive sensor. But the curious thing was that these objects were incredibly smaller than the massive objects they detected beforehand, it seemed that the sensor was unable to determine them at the extreme range beforehand. Which seemed like the most plausible answer at the moment, the Deep Space Passive Sensor was excellent at detecting objects at extreme ranges, but it did fuck all at individually sorting objects. This surely frustrated a significant number of naval commanders as some would argue that it puts them at a disadvantage when preparing for combat, but in the years since its introduction, the Navy has learned to adapt.

“Ma'am, another report from the 9th Combat Flight of ECV-2098, they report the smaller rogue planetoids have amassed around the larger ones in a circular formation. They are requesting permission to engage in further recon.”

“Acknowledged.” replied the Lord Captain with an annoyed tone as she stood up and walked to the railing of the raised platform. She then folded her hands behind her back and looked off into the void, in the general direction of the supposedly rogue planetoids. Something felt off, there was no way in hell that these objects were just rogue planetoids, if they were just rogue planetoids then there wouldn't be any sort of uniformity within their stance. She then reached up and took the cigar out of her mouth, exhaling a dense cloud of smoke into their air as she thought about their formation for a few moments. There was a chance that these are indeed rogue planetoids and their formation was more or less natural, however, that was a snowball’s chance in hell. It was more likely that they were facing something even more sinister, something more organic.

Grimmancing, she then turned to the communications officer and started to bark orders “Deny their request and have them return to ship for refueling. Instead, have all Type 24 Patrol Gunboats launch sensor probes and order drop ships closer in. I want all the reserve fighter craft ready for launch. Navigation, widen our fleet stance, but maintain patrol formation. Communications, relay the same thing to all ships in the flotilla. Gunnery, load shells and bring gunnery stations to standby”

“Are we expecting trouble ma’am?” asked the ship XO, a rather old looking evandari male with silver eyes and pitch black fur. Like her, his face was covered in several scars but unlike her, he was missing several fingers from his left hand and most of his left ear.

“Possibly, however, I'd rather not take the chance of getting our flotilla blow up by some pirates who found an ancient wreck and decided to fix it up.” She then pinched the bridge of her forehead. “Given the vastness of space and how old the galaxy is, it is possible they found something out there that is incredibly dangerous to the Empire and its power projection.”

“However, you think its something worse.”

“Indeed,” she replied with a grim tone, then paused for a moment. In that moment she took another drag from her cigar and once again then blew the smoke into the air. She then turned to look at the XO, she typically had a stern expression but this time it was worse. “Something a lot more established....another, more advanced civilization.” she finally said, waving her cigar around.

“Mm” mused the XO with a frown on his face, he then started to scratch his chin with his good hand. “It is possible, given the age of the galaxy that there would be some nations out there that have become increasingly advanced when compared to others. Different planets and such that civilizations could grow on and how time is relative.”

“Indeed.”

Some time later
“Lord Captain, sensor probes have reached the unknown formation and have sent back the following data.” reported one of the communications officers as they looked down at the report “Sensors are reporting highly concentrated levels of radiation, similar to that of a fusion reactor. They are also detecting structured radio signals”

Lord Captain Vladislavovna pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed “So, just as we feared, these are not rogue planetoids, instead they are ships of some sort.” Now rubbing the bridge of her nose in annoyance, why did it have to be on her patrol that these ships dropped out here? Slowly recomposing herself, she lifted her head up and looked out the viewport in front of her.

“Ma’am, report from GB-1093 and ED-1104”

“Acknowledge, read the message!”

“Made visual contact with unknown objects. Stop. Unknown objects are artificial, ships. Stop. Do not match any known ships. Stop.” replied one of the communication officers as they looked over the incoming telegram message, they then stopped and looked up at the Lord Captain.

Vladislavovna was not in a good mood at the moment and when the communications officer looked up at her, they could see a scowl starting to form on her face and slowly started to tap her finger for a few moments. “Continue the report, Rear Station officer.” she ordered with an annoyed tone as she looked down upon the officer.

“Yes ma’am” replied the officer, clearing their throat they continued “Visually confirm forty plus ships. Stop. Unknown ships are larger than Thalduhmian ships, roughly 1.5 to 5 times. Stop. Fleet is holding position around larger ship. Stop. Non aggressive, unknown objective. Stop.” The officer then placed the report down and looked back at the Lord Captain “That was all.”

With a soft grunt Vladislavovna pushed herself off the railing and folded her arms behind her back before looking down at the officer. “Interesting.” she mused before turning around and walking back towards her chair. “Navigation, continue our speed. Communications, send a telegram to the nearest Imperial naval force and inform them about our discovery. Once that is done, see about establishing a telegram, radio, hell, even a signal lamp line with the unknown fleet. I would like to know who these vessels are and why they are here.”

To: Commanding officer of the unknown fleet
From: Lord Captain Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna, Lord Captain of the 8867th Patrol Flotilla
ATTENTION UNKNOWN VESSEL(S)

This is Lord Captain Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna of the Imperial Astro Navy of the Thalduhm Empire, I regret to inform you that you are trespassing on Thalduhm Empire claimed territory. By order of the Imperial Naval Code, you hereby must reduce speed and answer this message in either telegraph, radio, or signal lamp. As commanding officer of the Imperial formation within this system, I am requesting an audience with your commanding officer or appointed representative.

by **The Holy Solar Empire** » Sat Apr 16, 2022 4:13 pm

..... Great Treasure Voyage Continued

The mood from within the Zheng He was best described as tense, all across the bride the numerous functionaries worked to better decipher the unknown objects in system. Galileo himself was pacing from his elevated position from above, occasionally looking at the screens of his subordinates as he passed by. The entire fleet was a well oiled machine by this point, the formation was in sync, every ship was primed for combat at a moments notice, and the entire system was under constant observation, by all means there was little reason to be concerned, and yet worry was all that filled the Supreme Envoy's mind. The fleet captain was not particularly pleased that an unknown contact was happening at this moment, but he didn't let any of his worries show, his face was a blank canvas radiating an aura of confidence and calm, ideal for keeping his crew in line, he may not be a soldier, but work within the palace bureaucracy required leadership all the same.

"Sire, we can currently confirm that they have pulled assets back, it appears they are launching drones to try and feel us out." Galileo's attention was drawn to one of his comms officers, quickly walking over to view the officers screen.

"Any idea if this a probe? Perhaps trying to see what our defenses are like?" He asked as he looked over the information, it was all fairly complicated but he got the gist of it.

"I don't think so, they might be just trying to find out about us."

"Well, what do we know about them?" Galileo said as he stepped back to ask the tactical officer by his flank.

"We are currently reading 20 objects of considerable weight, I'd rate the largest within frigate tonnage at a minimum. Assuming they aren't backing any esoteric weapons we are unfamiliar with then they shouldn't pose to much of a threat, but they could have heavier ships in nearby systems."

Galileo considered the information before him, the largest ship in this unknown fleet was a frigate analogue, either this was just a small patrol of an otherwise well developed peoples, or they were the pride and joy of a developing star nation. Either way he was more or less confident in the assumption that they were not intrinsically hostile, more than likely, they were also trying to figure out what the hell was currently going on. The more the Envoy mused over the information presented, the more he understood that this could be to the Empire's benefit, if these people do not know of the Holy Solar Empire, it is likely they also do not know of any of the other galactic polities, especially those who make up the Galactic Congress, it would almost seem that this situation came about though divine providence of nothing else.

"Presume they are just curious and keep an eye out for what they are doing, alert me as soon as something major occurs." He said as he headed back to sit within his command chair. It would be a short time after before a data packet was intercepted coming from the alien fleet, and immediately the Envoy was alerted to this development.

"Sire! we just received a message from the alien fleet!" Galileo was out of his seat within seconds as he quickly walked over to the head comms officer, placing one hand on their chair as he leaned in to the screen.

"It's just a jumbled message so far, but we believe we can translate it if given some time." The officer said

"Any idea what it may be?"

"No, not definitively, could be a warning or a hello for all we know."

Galileo stroked his beard for several minutes before settling on a course to take. "Keep working on a translation, in the mean time forward a basic first contact passage along with a message letting them know we received their message."

"On it sire."

It took only a few minutes until everything was ready, and the Zheng He sent forward an information packet of it's own to the source of the sender of the initial message, along with a basic first contact package detailing basic info of Earth and of the Sol Sankta.

Ai: Neidengia Sepo
De: Supera Senita de le Onega Trerjo Voiago, Gradia Kancelio de le Palica Endomo, Galileo Omero de Artuso

Ateon fredulo sepo, ni legi vi luta ka klara, ce cio tepo ni aru ne tame hais a lena taduo de via linvo, se ni keda ni eva hais gi malodia ene a malaj minuj.

by **Fenvaria Republic** » Mon May 02, 2022 5:15 pm

Koghdurahl system
Uncolonized
Edge of Imperial Controlled Space

Minutes would pass by and the bridge crew of the Lord Captain Vladislavovna flagship, the Gray Wolf class Battlecruiser which is named the Imperial Duty, continued their work but in a concerned manner as since this was a first contact situation anything could and will happen. It could go peacefully, or it could turn out to be another First Contact War like what happened with the Commonwealth of Draco a little over two centuries ago. Something that she would rather not happen on her watch.

From the limited intelligence they gathered on the unknown ships, they appeared to be massive in size and in weight. So it was safe to assume that they had the firepower to wipe out this flotilla, possibly up to battlegroup sized formations in a matter of moments, if the situation turned into an all-out battle. She then bit her finger as she thought about what sort of weapons they could have, while it didn't matter much, she couldn’t help but speculate on some of the weapons they had. She had the feeling that the unknown ships favored laser weaponry over the more traditional kinetics that were commonplace within the Imperial Astro Navy.

“Not like that would matter much...” she mumbled to herself as she anxiously waited, her foot lighting tapping against the metal floor, for some sort of report or update on the situation. Her mumbling and impatient waiting was then broken by the creaking of a chair and some shuffling behind her, causing her to turn her head slightly.

“Ma’am, we received a message from the unknown vessel.” reported one of the communications officers with a light sigh. “However-”

She then sighed as well, already knowing what the communication officer was going to say, not so much in relief but in annoyance. “Very well, proceed with the translation, check it against any and all languages we know.”

“Aye aye”

“Do you have an estimated time on when that can be decoded?”

“Negative ma’am, could be a few moments or a few hours”

“The faster we can get this thing decoded, the faster we can somewhat understand why they are here. AMI, please assist the communication station.”

“As you wish Lord Captain Vladislavovna.” replied a soft and feminine but robotic voice to her right, which gracefully walked over and looked over the officer’s shoulder. She then picked up the piece of paper and started to analyze it, her eyes racing back and forth. “Ma’am, it appears I do not recognize this language, but some words do stand out.”

“Go on”

The AMI unit then climbed the stairs and handed the piece of paper to the Lord Captain, then pointing to several words. “Gradia, I think is similar to that of ‘Grand’ or ‘Gracious’. ‘Voiago’, sounds similar to that of voyage. While this word,” she said pointing to one of the last words in the second line, “Galileo, is a human name.”

With another sigh, Lord Captain Vladislavovna placed her palm against her face and dragged it down in now boiling frustration. Humanity, while the Empire was not familiar with the region or the species, it knew of them and interacted with them somewhat. Trade with the humans was sparse at best for a wide range of reasons, mostly because of distance and the internal politics of the region. For many within the Thalduhm Empire and in the region that the Empire occupies, they regard Sol as a ‘cursed system’, where nothing but trouble spawns. The last time the Empire interacted with Sol, which was a few years ago, humanity was fractured into several power blocs and Sol was seen as a neutral zone that was ready to boil over. The Lord Captain wondered if humanity really did come together under one banner or was this a new faction within the Sol they knew and had familiarize themselves with.

In any case, if this was a human nation from the Sol they knew, then surely they would have picked up the Imperial station here in the system then proceeded to make contact with it. There was something strange about this formation of human ships, or what she believed to be human ships.

“AMI, continue to translate the message and update me on it.”

“Very well”

by **The Holy Solar Empire** » Fri May 06, 2022 12:33 am

..... Great Treasure Voyage Continued

The initial tension which had gripped the bridge of the Zheng He had in time alleviated into a slight wariness, something which had soon been followed amongst the fleet itself. The information that the Zheng He had discovered had made it's way throughout the fleet and now they were all working on decoding as much of the initial message to determine what species they were dealing with; the sheer computer power being funneled into deciphering these strange xeno's was essentially incomprehensible to the human mind, as thousands of computations worked on deciphering every possible meaning of the messages sent, aiding in this endeavor was the scanning of the alien fleet, it was passive mostly reading for communications, and was upfront, there was a chance that if detected it could be seen as a provocation, but given how non intrusive it was and fairly blatantly telegraphed then they hopefully wouldn't be spooked. Eventually they had more or less cracked the code, they had a workable translation that could be used to communicate in the aliens tongues, if not in a very sophisticated way, but it was a start, and that was what is important. Galileo walked up towards the main data center of the bridge as the communications officer sent the rough translation of the aliens initial message to him.

To: unknown fleet commander
From: Lord Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna, Captain of Flotilla 8867
ATTENTION UNKNOWN(S)

This is Lord Captain Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna of the Astro Navy, Thalduhm Empire, I apologize to tell you that you are trespassing on Thalduhm territory. The Imperial Naval Code orders you to reduce speed and respond; telegraph, radio, signal lamp. As commander of the formation in this system, I am requesting an audience with your commander or representative.

Galileo ran his fingers through his beard as he read the message over a few times, obviously it wasn't a complete translated, and it wasn't a particularly fluent one at that. Nonetheless it had revealed quite a bit of information that was critical for the treasure fleets response to the situation. First thing he was able to tell was the xeno's strange name, it had aspects of human language in it that was almost unsettling, were these even xenos in the first place, or descendants of a break away empire far from the Terran core?

He also now knew the name of the civilization which he was dealing with, this Thalduhm Empire had claimed this system and was patrolling it when the treasure fleet arrived, oh how the Lord works in mysterious ways... Their main form of ship to ship communication's include radio which makes sense, but they also use a telegraph, and something else referred to as a signal lamp? The most critical piece of information however was that they were seeking an audience with him, something he was more than willing to accept. He knew he still needed to send a first contact package, but even with the broken translation they had now it wouldn't make much sense.

Ah, but that was the thing now wasn't it, they didn't need to understand it all right away, they could look it over over a period of time and in the meantime they can get a proper language matrix and create a real time translation. "Communications, I am currently writing a revised message to the xeno fleet, when it's done I'll need it translated to our current understanding of their language and sent off understood?" A word form confirmation from his coms officer was the only response Galileo needed as he finished up his message and sent it forward.

To: Unidentified Vessel
From: Great Representative of the Great Riches Journey, Great Minister of the Royal House, Galileo Omero de Artuso

Alert Alien ship, we see you, full translation of your tongue incomplete, require tongue matrix for completion.

Sol letters, 26
A a B b C c D d E e F f G g H h I i J j K k L l M m N n O o P p Q q R r S s T t U u V v W w X x Y y Z z

Sol Numbers, 10 set
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Share

He decided to add the Alphabet and decimal system in use my the Sol Sankta in hopes that the xenos will add their own comparisons, if for no other reason to see if they are truly alien or perhaps something else. The message was sent over, hopefully they'll understand his request and send a copy of their language matrix, all their spellings, grammatical structures, etc. From there it will take a bit of time to decipher extra nuance that might not be understood, unless something akin t it is already in their matrix. Galileo then looked to his side as a basic first contact package was being prepped for launch, they weren't going to bother translating it as well, once they have a proper complete translation of the Thalduhm tongue, they shall use it to then send a translation of Solang, and then use that to more properly read everything they sent them.

Once that was completed then the captain of this fleet will be invited to board the Zheng He so they may begin talks, if everything goes well then... well the point for this whole voyage was to meet new peoples and spread the influence of the Sol Sankta was it not, it would only be a matter of time until they would meet with the leadership of this strange far away Empire and awe them with the great wealth of the Remian realm. Galileo looked at the screen to see that not only was his translated message sent, but the first contact package as well, they'll send a translation when possible but who knows, maybe the Xenos will figure it out themselves, either way he decided to return to his chair and wait for what comes next.

Ai: Sinjro Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna
Dem: Supera Senita de le Onega Trerjo Voiago, Gradia Kancelio de le Palica Endomo, Galileo Omero de Artuso
Sujeto: Unue Kotakto Pako

[ ☨ EMPRIA SOL SANKTA REMIA: EN SUMACIA ☨ ]

Le Sol Sankta Remia, oten eferita ai le Empria de le Sankta Sol, eta masia Empria situan ene le Sol sitemo, fonda en le 70th arcenti du Fredoric le Koncerio, kiu eti kronia du le Patriako de Teri, Tewodros X en Arilo 17, 6966. Empriato Fredoric eti le Reo de le Gothian Relano, unu li eredia dem lia patro Karlan IV proro ai lia koncer de ej de kio volu eti de rue Empria de le Sankta Sol. Lia ago ekbuli le empriaj hitorio konta kie le Gothian epoko, unu kiu volu lata gi Kharlai de Pravoi volu suozi le empriaj trona. Kharlai volu iru su ai eigi Theodora XI de le Sol Empria pugo stati, kiu havi ure gi ke pukto, etis a majro rialo kotrau le Empria de le Sankta Sol.

En le 89th arcenti, le domo de Pravoi kolasi kaj le Empria de le Sankta Sol fali ena majro civila milito ke volu evetuali foro le doro de kio le modnaj Empria volu devogi enen. Dum le Pravoi Dynstio majo hai eti sur, mult de gi'ta instuoj pli-aŭ-mal volu lata gis le katasrofa svar milito en le 92nd arcenti. Por tri tuaj arcentai le Empria volu batali a ekalti batalo kotrau le ektra galaksia svar, evetuali pluvante le milito, sur le seka arcentai le Empria volu rekorui kaj repoa, gis ni eniru le legiano epoko en le 94th arcenti. Le aktula regata dynstio de le Empria de le Sankta Sol en le Remian dynstio, kiu pren poteco en 9860, kaj en nutepe su le regi de lia Empriaj Majete Matheo Louis-François de le Rémi-Soleil.

Lia len tilo en "le ej Auguto, Ciel Fenikso Prin de le Korpora Reno, Empriato de Empriatos, Betaj Sinjro de Temo kaj Spao, Viregitaro de Deo, le ej Sankta Sol Empriato, 3rd de le Sol Sankta Rémia." Plu silgita kun le beno de "maj lia regi eti remori prere Dekmi yaroj, en eterneco."

Le reistaro de le Empria de le Sankta Sol en....

To: Lord Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna
From: Supreme Envoy of the Great Treasure Voyage, Grand Chancellor of the Palace Estate, Galileo Omero de Artuso
Subject: First Contact Package

[ ☨ THE HOLY SOLAR EMPIRE: IN SUMMATION ☨ ]

The Sol Sankta Remia, often referred to as the Holy Solar Empire, is a massive Empire situated within the Sol system, founded in the 70th century by Fredoric the Conquer, who was crowned by the Patriarch of Earth, Tewodros X in April 17, 6966. Emperor Fredoric was the King of the Gothian Realm, one he inherited from his father Karlan IV prior to his conquest of most of what would be the early Holy Solar Empire. His age sparked the Imperial history known as the Gothian era, one which would last until Kharlai de Pravoi would assume the Imperial throne. Kharlai would go on to marry Theodora XI of the Sol Empire rump state, which had up until that point, been a major rival against the Holy Solar Empire.

In the 89th century the House of Pravoi collapsed and the Holy Solar Empire fell into a major civil war that would eventually form the backbone of what the modern Empire would develop into. While the Pravoi dynasty may have been over, much of it's institutions more or less would last until the disastrous swarm war in the 92nd century. For three whole centuries the Empire would fight a stalling battle against the extra galactic swarm, eventually surviving the war, over the next three centuries the Empire would rebuild and repopulate, until we enter the Legionary Era in the 94th century. The current reigning dynasty of the Holy Solar Empire is the Remian dynasty, which took power in 9860, and is currently under the reign of his Imperial Majesty Matheo Louis-François de le Rémi-Soleil.

His full title is "the most August, Heavenly Phoenix Prince of the Corporeal Realm, Emperor of Emperors, Blessed Lord of Time and Space, Vicegerent of God, the most Holy Solar Emperor, 3rd of the Sol Sankta Rémia." Further stylized with the blessing of "may his reign be remembered beyond Ten-thousand years, in perpetuity."

The Holy Solar Empires' government is....

by **Fenvaria Republic** » Mon May 23, 2022 2:53 pm

Koghdurahl system
Uncolonized
Edge of Imperial Controlled Space

With a puzzling glare, the Lord Captain looked over the most recent messages that had been sent from the unknown fleet. The first one was most puzzling as it seemed to have no context or purpose, it was just a mix of numbers and letters some of which she understood with the help of the AMI unit. She probably would have disregarded the message if it wasn't for the second message that was attached to it, which was significantly longer and took more time to analyze. After some time looking over the two messages, the AMI unit then looked up and placed the two papers down in a folder.

“Lord Captain, these two messages are rather interesting, the first one appears to be a code to their language, one to help us understand their language.” replied the AMI unit with a surprising amount of interest and excitement in her voice, it appeared she was ecstatic about the first message.

However, the Lord Captain knew there was something else there, something that would hypothetically blow her mind. “And what about the second message?” asked the Lord Captain with a raising eyebrow, looking down at the second piece of paper.

“The second message is I think incredibly interesting, it is something that gives us an inside look into the nature of these...people... and where they come from.” the AMI unit then picked up the second piece of paper and gave it to the Lord Captain, pointing to the first line of the first paragraph. “If you look here Lord Captain, this line explains the name of their nation and where it is from....and...my hunch was correct they are from-”

“Sol” replied the Lord Captain with a sharp tone as she noticed one word that kept popping up over and over throughout the entire message ‘Sol’. “So, they are indeed humans aboard these vessels.....however, to think that humans would build vessels this large.”

“To be quite honest, Lord Captain” replied the AMI unit, looking up from the paper and looking out upon the fleet that sat before them “They are several thousand years ahead of us....if I am reading this correctly, their year is roughly the 99th Age-”

“By the Great Wolf Mother.....” replied the Lord Captain with concern upon the vessels, each one of them was most likely leagues ahead of anything the Thalduhm Empire could field. She began to wonder what sort of military technology this nation had, did they have wide spread use of power armor? Were their main line troops equipped with railguns and energy shields? However, at the same time, it could be since they control such territory, their military was all over the place, something the Thalduhm Empire has rigorously avoided, forcing almost every planet in their territory to comply with the standardization of the Imperial Military. She then looked down at the paper and towards the first message that was sent. “AMI, do you think we could use this key to send a message to their ships?”

“Yes, but it would be choppy at best since we do not fully understand how their language works or anything about it aside from some letters and numbers. But, I think we could make it work.”

“Good, prepare a message”

Like that of the Human messages, the first message that was sent was a combination of an alphabet and a number set, both of which looked quite similar to that of human characters. However, the alphabet looked quite similar to that of Finnish; which, to this particular set of humans, must be a dead language at this point.

As for the second message it said the following,

To: Supreme Envoy of the Great Treasure Voyage, Grand Chancellor of the Palace Estate, Galileo Omero de Artuso
From: Lord Captain Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna
Topic: First Contact Package

To start with, I, Lord Captain Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna, have received your first contact package. Currently, my ship AI and communications department are analyzing the document but have learned significant portions about your nation from it.

Since you were kind enough to send a package about your nation, we shall do the same, below is the following about the Thalduhm Empire;

The Thalduhm Empire, often shortened to ‘Thalduhm’ or ‘The Empire’, is a spacefaring nation that occupies a small portion of the Beta Quadrant. The current year of the Empire is the 23rd Age, 79th Year (2379). The Empire originates from the system known locally as Roon Husila, which has a normal sized, G class star and roughly 9 major celestial bodies. The capital planet and the cradle of the Empire is an alpine like world known as Arcadia. Arcadia is a slightly larger, earth sized planet that orbits the jovian known as Roon Husila III, which is the fifth planet from the sun. It also has a 27hr rotation, and roughly 8 days in a week, with 392 days in a year.

The Empire itself is born from the numerous wars that raged across the planet, being unified in the 19th Age and crowning its first Emperor during said unification. However, it also has been shaped by the two system wide wars (The First and Second Inner System Wars) during the late 20th Age. Both of which almost threatened the extinction of the Fenvarians, the founding race of the Empire. However, during the 21st Age, the system was fully unified during the Outer System War. Since then and with the formation of the Empire, the Imperial crown has strengthened its position and has massively industrialized its territory.

Government wise, the Empire is best classified as a stratocratic hereditary monarchy, where future kings or queens (referred to as Iron Emperor) are trained and drilled in how to run a nation. However, the government and society have a strong military influence due to the near extinction of the Fenvarians during the constant conflicts in their home system. Currently.....

by **The Holy Solar Empire** » Sat Jun 11, 2022 8:55 pm

..... Great Treasure Voyage Continued

The bridge of the Zheng He was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, one that spoke to the time and effort placed into constructing a ship of the Imperial Navy. Buried in the inner body of the ships hull, behind layers of matter compressed mithrilum; the interior bridge was distinguished by the silver-grey metal which protected it by its rich wooden and plastered wall, decorated with all manner of items which the crew consider symbolic of them and their ship. The bridge was multi-layered, with a upper and lower deck connected by stairs, the upper deck reserved for the officers and the captain, whose keep was connected from the right, to his left was a meeting room where he could hold council with the other captains of the fleet.

The bridge was fairly animated, various crewmen busy either keeping watch over the aliens, the fleet, or the ship itself. The comms officer, a humble man by the name of Thomas was having it fairly easy, as of now he had only one real concern to him, delegating the men under him to deal with whatever petty call the other ship captain may send the Chancellor at any one time, all he needed to do was pick up whatever the aliens sent his ship and whatever his captain wanted ordered to the fleet.

The Chancellor himself was sitting within the captains throne, a scroll in hand as he looked over all manner of data that he was privy to, now joined by his second-in-command Faeduric el Varthuin, an Eylonian half-breed who is in the running for becoming the captain of the Zheng He once the Voyage properly concludes, the amount of responsibilities delegated to him speaks of how much Captain de Artuso believes in his ability. Said captain had been waiting patiently for further developments, the fleet was still in it's formation and no captain had acted out of turn, their precious treasure ships were safe and the scouts first send into the system have fallen back nicely, all that which held his attention now was the actions of the alien fleet, and his patience was about to be rewarded.

Thomas, still diligent at his terminal was quickly alerted by the arrival of a new information package from the aliens, which was quickly scanned in case of any viruses or other unwanted information, before being sent to be translated and to him. Thankfully the aliens had picked up on the captains wishes and have sent in their own language matrix as well, which was remarkably similar to Finnish, a minor language within the Eurasian Tsardom back on Earth. With the aid of the language matrix and no small part of the aliens own efforts, the translator was able to up to satisfactory standards, and the alien info packet was now revealed to them.

"Milord Captain, we have received yet another information packet form the alien fleet, you will be most pleased to know we have a full translation of their language and have even received their own first contact package to mirror our own." He said, earning the Chancellors attention.

"Good, good, send it to my scroll so I may learn more of our new brethren."

"Right away sire." and without much fanfare the data was sent, and the Captain wasted no time in reading of these new and potentially interesting people.

It was as his comms officer had said, the aliens were not dragging their feet at all, and they were apparently sophisticated enough to have synthetic intelligence as well, and have been able to learn from what he had sent them, perhaps not all but certainly enough. As he read further down it was then he understood the name of which these peoples banners followed, the Thalduhm Empire; a part of him was recalling from memory of anything that may be of familiarity, he recalled a Thaldurin Empire having existed in the late 43rd century, but that empire was crushed by the expansionist Jan Vulk during his invasion of the Menovinsian kingdoms, and if these people were related to that ancient regime then they would have been able to speak to him in a sort of Germanic language, which would have been swiftly translated; no, that was but a coincidence, a somewhat interesting one to his eyes, but a coincidence regardless.

He had no context for what the Beta Quadrant was exactly, the term had no meaning to him, he new that quadrant's were used by the Galactic Congress, but he doubted this had any relation to them. In their calendar it was the year 2379, and by the way they separated the two halves of the millennium he could infer a lot of possible quirks of these people. Their home star is called Roon Husila, the world Husila is yet another, almost unnerving coincidence, but then again life is full of these. Their homeworld is apparently a single or at least, major biome world, not particularly common, and the life born from it generally lacking in diversity, but an interesting thing to note regardless. So far most of the information presented should be sent to the various scholars aboard his ship and the fleet to look through in greater detail, it was nothing major, but it was when he got to their mention of the world Arcadia that things changed massively.

They used the term 'earth sized planet', and that not only confused him but also concerned him greatly; while this was all translated, the phrase indicates that earth isn't just their word for dirt, but a specific reference point, the etymology of which goes as far back as the Proto-Indo-Europeans, the use of Jovian was also concerning, but translation made that one easier to deal with, and for all he knew the translation was filling in details that would make sense to him anyways, still it was concerning and in hushed urgency looked up to his comms officer hoping to set his worries to rest.

"Thomas, how much of this was already translated into our language?"

"I'd say about 60% or so, discounting correction to grammar and better word choices, but it would have been understandable."

"Can you give me a report on what exactly was translated please?"

"I'll get right on that sire."

With that settled for the moment, de Artuso turned back to the report to read on, although with much less enthusiasm than last time. This Empire came about after a series of nondescript wars ravaged the planet, something which he understood to be common, Earth was different in the sense that it was unified under a coup of an ailing Republic by Isaac Rohr in the late 27th century, although his grandson would go on to unite most of the interstellar states made since light speed colonization began centuries before him. He also learned of this races name, the Fenvarians, as well as the two wars which nearly spelled their extinction, he knew not what these Inner System Wars were, but if they were anything like the ancient wars fought between Earth and Mars (Or even itself for that matter) than he could easily see how it could be so destructive.

He was reading more into the Fenvarian people and their history, specifically in their monarchs and government structure, but was interrupted when he was given a notification from Thomas, the pre translation was sent to his scroll. Galileo put a bookmark on where he last was and switched over to read over what the Fenvarian captain had sent him, he needed to know if his mind was playing tricks on him or something else was afoot. The package was in many ways the same, of what words were translated the sentences were understandable if using poor word choices and grammar, but it was indeed legible. Finally he came across the segment that gave him pause the first time, and steeled himself as he read on.

"Arcadia is a slightly bigger, earth sized planet that circles the Jovian known as Roon Husila III." He whispered to himself, this was the message the aliens sent to his ship, his fleet... it did say earth, but how can xenos who have no prior knowledge of the Holy Solar Empire know of Earth? Perhaps they were an isolated peoples and already had some knowledge of the Empire, not enough to know about their ships or language, but enough to know some basics... but then why use earth itself to be the comparison for their homeworld, thats far to tailored a message without some understanding of the size of Earth, and they shouldn't know how big the Earth was, even if they knew it was the birth place of Humanity.

Galileo knew that this required an immediate meeting with the fleet, it couldn't wait and they no doubt are having the same questions as he is. Without much fanfare he stood up from his seat and fixed his cape. "Faeduric I'm leaving the bridge to you, only send for me if something of great importance occurs understand?" He emphasizes with a stern but soft motion, an understood was wordlessly acknowledge as the Chancellor made for the meeting room to the left.

Before the door to the room he took a moment to look at the guard stationed at the rooms entrance and turned to address her. "Ensure that no one bothers me while I'm holding council, not for one thing unless it is crucial I'm made aware, understood?"

"As you will it mi lord." she said with a bow as the Chancellor made his way through the door and down a short hall.

Galileo soon walked into a wider room with the flags of both the Empire, the Zheng He, and his own Coat of Arms; Galileo sat down upon a fine black chair with golden trimmings, before him a computer and several projectors which connected to the other captains of the fleet, at least those of any significance, the other captains were heard but not seen. He wasted little time in pressing the button to call them, and a few were answered almost immediately.

On screen first came the grizzled look of a man Galileo's senior, wearing an elaborate uniform with various medals adoring his chest, he spoke up first.

"Ah, greetings your excellency, I presume you wished to speak on the recent message sent by the xenos yes?" This was Ducal-Captain Gerald Fritz of the Tannenberg, a veteran of numerous skirmishes against barbarians in the frontiers and came to the throne to the Duchy of Grunvalka in a fierce civil war that took his original left eye. He more often than participates and goes wherever the Empire needs him, his Duchy is more for his side of the family than his own use.

"Indeed, with a full translation made I believe it is time we have a war council of sort, to go over the prior messages sent and decide where to go from there." Galileo responded.

"Surely this won't lead to an actual war, these peoples have done us no harm so far and it would be unjust to end them for little reason." This show of concern came from the captain of the illustrious Agincourt, Elizabeth Hughes. She was considered wise in her years, and a veteran of plenty of her own battles, she too held a Ducal title, but no actual land to go along with it, her commitments to the Navy wouldn't see her rest on her gains.

"Of course not madam, but with the information we have gleamed we must at least be on the same page and plan for the future accordingly, I am a mere civic advisor to his majesty."Galileo said, placating the respected veterans concerns.

By this point more and more of the captains had streamed in until the meeting could officially begin, and the Chancellor was ready to begin the meeting in earnest. "Lord and Lady captains of the Great Treasure Voyage, I bring you here on this meeting before me to discuss the recent developments in this uncharted system, in relation to the previously unknown alien peoples, the Fenvarians, and the Thalduhm Empire which they represent, and how we shall proceed on this matter."

This garnered a fair share of mumbling agreements before he continued.

"I shall not bore us with the needless details of how we got here in the first place, instead I wish for us to go over the very first message the Fenvarians, as we shall refer to them in this meeting, sent us, and continue on form there, with that said allow us to begin." He started by pulling up the initial message sent by the Fenvarian fleet.

To: Commanding officer of the unknown fleet
From: Lord Captain Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna, Lord Captain of the 8867th Patrol Flotilla
ATTENTION UNKNOWN VESSEL(S)

This is Lord Captain Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna of the Imperial Astro Navy of the Thalduhm Empire, I regret to inform you that you are trespassing on Thalduhm Empire claimed territory. By order of the Imperial Naval Code, you hereby must reduce speed and answer this message in either telegraph, radio, or signal lamp. As commanding officer of the Imperial formation within this system, I am requesting an audience with your commanding officer or appointed representative.

Many of the captains took in the information deeply, a few leaned in with a scoff or roll of the eyes, Galileo however was at least pleased to finally get a more clear and concise meaning of the first message. The Thalduhm Empire merely claimed this space, they didn't have any meaningful assets in place to just outright say it is theirs, this was something that Gerald was quick to voice.

"If this Thalduhm Empire merely claims this system, then how far aware are we from their actual territory?"

"Depends on the hyperlane connections I presume, it could be right next door to a developing system or be right near their home star and be disconnect along an obtuse path." Chimed in one of the minor captains.

"What exactly is a signal lamp anyways" Came another.

"It has to be communications based, that much is sure, perhaps it is something that makes sense in the context of their society?" answered Elizabeth.

"The gal of these barbarians to dare order our fleet around, why are we entertaining these savages and not blowing them to smithereens?" Came the bile of a particularity war hawkish captain.

"Because it is not what we are here to do; the mission of this voyage is to bring the light and prestige to the footsteps of various peoples across the galaxy, not to ravage whatever world does not sufficiently bend the knee at first sight." Galileo harshly chastened the warhawk before continuing.

"Anyways it is apparent that This Lord Captain Konnikova seeks and audience with us, specifically if not knowingly with me, our first order of business, I will not tolerate any arguments about this, but in the unlikely case that they prove hostile and use this as an attempt to kill me, shall such come to pass, my position in it's entirety is passing to Faeduric, should he too pass then it will pass on to Elizabeth of the Agincourt; have I made myself understood on the matter?" He received no push back from the various captains.

"very well, then once we complete this meeting I shall send an offer to their lordship to come aboard the Zheng He to host talks, I will be sure to invite a few captains to partake, but of those who shall attend will only speak if spoken too or given permission to speak, am I understood?" Once more there was no objection.

"Very well, let us continue on then, I am sure we have all received the very latest message from the Fenvarian fleet?"

"With all do respect your excellency... are you sure any of this is a wise idea, they know of Earth but are entirely ignorant of the Sol Sankta, something is amiss." This time a man by the name of Rickard Gaspard spoke up, a Lord Captain much the same as anyone else and commanding the Fleet Monitor Poitiers, he wasn't one to speak up unless he felt something needed to be said, and since the Chancellor has otherwise cowed the other captains, now was a better time than any.

"I understand your concerns Rickard, but if we do not attempt to meet with these people at all, then we may never find the answers that we seek, further this may make for a good first impression we can use gain a new tributary, and in the process, hopefully bring the word of Christ to their people, all I ask of you is to trust me as you have so far, and hold to your faith that our Lord shall see us throw these strange times."

This seemed to mollify the various lord captains of the fleet, there would be a few more words exchanged, some contingencies and plots made, even discussion on where the future may lead them, but when it was all said and done they all gracefully and parted ways before leaving the call one by one, stopping at Rickard who gave the Chancellor one last bow, clearly conflicted, but subservient either way as he to left the call. Galileo lifted himself up from the chair and quickly made his way out of the room, down the hall and through the door back into the bridge were everything seemed like it was when he left beforehand.

"I presume everything was fine and orderly while I was busy?" he said as he once more took his seat upon the captains throne.

"It was, and I can confirm the alien fleet hadn't change formation or otherwise act different the entire time." Came Faeduric.

"Good, good, very well then I relieve you of your station." He said before turning his attention to his comms officer.

"Thomas I am preparing a message to be sent to the Thalduhm fleet, send our own completed translator along with it will you?"

"Understood sire."

Galileo put some thought into his reply, but he felt now more than ever was the time for the two sides to meet face-to-face.

To: Lord Captain Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna of the Thalduhm Empire
From: The Supreme Envoy of the Great Treasure Voyage, Grand Chancellor of the Palace Estate, Galileo Omero de Artuso of the Holy Solar Empire
Subject: Face-to-Face meeting

Greetings,

First allow me to thank you for seeing the intent behind my message with our numbers and alphabet, the trading of language matrices had without a doubt aided greatly in our efforts to understand and communicate with each other. It is thus with this interest in mind we are sending a copy of our own completed work, in the case that you have not yet quite finished your own software.

With that said, allow us to get to the greater issue at hand, I must fist of all properly introduce myself to you. My name is Galileo Omero de Artuso, I am the Grand Chancellor of the Palace Estate, an important position within the complex palace bureaucracy of the Holy Solar Empire. Recent events had seen us change courses in our travels, and as a result we found ourselves within this system which your noble Emperor holds claim to.

Upon your first message to or fleet we barely understood it, but with a full translation we now know what you seek from us and we are more than happy to grant you passage to my flagship, the Zheng He. It is with good tidings that we invite you aboard so that we may bring harmony between our two peoples and hopefully start a new era of friendship, all we ask is that you are transported on a fairly light transport, and not deviate from the given flight path, I hope to finally meet you.

Sincerely,
Grand Chancellor of the Palace Estate, Galileo Omero de Artuso

by **Fenvaria Republic** » Sun Jul 31, 2022 5:28 pm

Koghdurahl system
Uncolonized
Edge of Imperial Controlled Space

Lord Captain Konnikova Lydia Vladislavovna once again pulled out her cigar box from the inside pouch of her jacket and took out another Arcadian Royal cigar, perhaps her fourth one in the last three hours. She then placed it in her mouth and pulled out her lighter, lighting the sweet smelling cigar and taking a deep drag from it. The tip of the cigar burned brightly for a few moments before once again returning to a smoldering state. She then exhaled a large cloud of soft gray smoke, one might wonder why she was smoking so much within the last few hours. She and many others on the bridge would reply with the sheer stress and anxiety of waiting for a message from this “Holy Sol Empire”. As at any moment, a peaceful encounter like this could turn violent. The Thalduhm Empire was used to hostile encounters, examples of this being the First Contact War with the Dracoian Commonwealth and 15 Minute War with the Kisians. Both of which had put strains on the diplomatic affairs after the fighting, while some were resolved (relations with the Kisians now being favorable, if somewhat competitive) others were still outright hostile (like that with the Dracoian Commonwealth, which still resulted in massive border wars).

However, this first contact was not like the others, at least compared to the others, it was more peaceful if somewhat standoff-ish as the two fleets looked at each other, waiting for something to happen.

Sighing, Lord Captain Vladislavovna took the cigar out of her mouth and let out another exhale of thick smoke. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as the Command Station communications officer walked up the stairs to the command landing, in their hand she noticed another vanilla folder. As the officer reached the top of the landing, the Lord Captain placed the cigar in her mouth and spoke “Officer, what do you bring?”

The communication command station officer gave a crisp salute before replying “Lord Captain, we have received another message from the human fleet.”

Lord Captain Vladislavovna raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she looked down towards the folder, wondering what it said. It had been some time since they heard back from these humans but perhaps this was a good sign that something bountiful might popup from their delay in communication. Nevertheless, she motioned the officer to bring her the folder as she placed the cigar back into mouth. “I see, bring it here.” she said with a muffled reply.

Heavy footsteps of heavy boots rang throughout the cramped interior of the dropship which was followed by the metallic clang and creak of a bulkhead door opening. From her seat, the Lord Captain groggily lifted her head and opened one eye, in the doorway of the bulkhead stood one of her military escorts whose name she had already forgotten, a fenvarian Jagerschultze. The soldier gave a brief salute to her as she sighed and opened her other eye before being hit with the automatic need to stretch.

‘Lord Captain, we are approaching the flagship of the Holy Sol Empire fleet, and they directed us to a nearby hangar.” The soldier then paused as he looked down at his watch for a moment, he watched as it ticked away for a handful of seconds before finally replying “Our ETA is roughly 10 minutes.”

Finishing her stretch, she then covered her mouth and yawned directly afterwards. “Excellent” she replied, eventually standing up and folding her arms behind her back. “Has our hosts prepared any sort of dossier of what to expect?”

“Negative.” replied the soldier shaking his head “All I can guess is that we are going to have a small welcoming committee there to greet us, that is if they are like the human nations we have come across in the past.”

“True, but these humans have surprised us recently.” she said looking out of the small window on the side of the drop ship.

As mentioned before, when the Thalduhm Empire met humanity, it had been fractured into several different factions each with their own agenda to dominate the other. However, from what she understood, Sol, their home system, was always a contention point as each faction had a foothold in the system and wanted to expand their influence over the system. She guessed that there was a certain prestige that went with having the most influence within the system, but she guessed that if that happened the other nations would band together and enforce the status quo. She sighed and then pushed that thought from her head, it had been some time since the Empire made contact with any human nations in the region so things might have changed drastically, perhaps one faction finally managed to beat the others and expand. Perhaps the human nations they made contact with were just small factions that fled the Sol region and simply knew of its location but not its status.

For the rest of the trip, the Lord Captain was left in silence going back and forth between the various notes she had taken about the Holy Sol Empire. While it wasn't much as between the messages she could only gain so much intelligence about them and she wasn't sure if the information they provided about them was accurate. She also figured that they would be doing the same, or at least looked at the information provided with some skepticism. Nevertheless, she carefully looked over each page within the tiny notebook before the soldier once again walked into the troop bay and saluted.

“Ma’am we have arrived.”

Treasure of Two Empires [Att: The Holy Solar Empire][FT]

Treasure of Two Empires [Att: The Holy Solar Empire][FT]

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