Shadows of Solva (Open/FT)

[Interstellar Systems Republic]

It has been over a hundred years since the horrific events which took place on the planet of Solva. A world that was marred and devestated in one of the costliest conflicts to have ever hit the Interstellar Systems Republic, leaving hundreds of thousands dead, and a young colony all but ruins. Today, one can barely tell that such a horrific event took place on the peaceful world, the damage having not only been undone, but the colony itself has grown beyond what it was before the conflict. The only signs of the dreadful conflict are the occasional wrecks, left rusted and overgrown with vegetation, the final resting places of vehicles, aircraft and starships destroyed in the horrific battle. However the shadow of that dreadful month still lingers over the people that call Solva their home, the true origin of its attacker remains a mystery, and there are those who fear that another attack, larger and deadlier than the first, may be inevitable.

Solva is not the only world orbiting its star, nor is it the only one capable of sustaining life. A nearby moon, named IG-55, has caught the eye of the Interstellar Systems Republic for sometime, due to its close proximity to a gas giant rich in the valuable gas argon, and containing massive amounts of valuable Hydrogen and other gasses, which fuel the starships of the Interstellar Systems Navy and the ships which navigate the dark void which makes up the territory of the Interstellar Systems Republic. This planet has been chosen as the sight of a new colony, where a series of gas mining companies plan to start a new refinery. This is where our story begins, and where the Shadows of Solva will finally have light shown on them.

---

IG-55
High Orbit
0700 Hours
ISNS Nightguard
Interstellar Systems Navy Cruiser
Captain Mordian Kiltan

The light of the star glinted off of the white paint of the old cruiser, a veteran of over a hundred years of voidborn service. The aging, but still potent, cruiser seemed to glide elegantly through the inky black void of space, a faint trail left behind the blindingly bright blue flash of the vessels ion engines. Sticking out of the ships front, two large guns, the ships two deadly main guns, which left little doubt of the vessels purpose, a warship. Before the vessel lay the blue, green and brown orb of a moon, backdropped beautifully by the dark, hazy blue gas giant that the moon orbited, a truly gargantuan celestial body that easily dwarfed the moon and the ship alike by many times. It was through one of the view screens of the bridge that Captain Mordian Kiltan viewed this beautiful sight. However unfortunately he was not here to marvel at the beautiful view in front of him, he had an objective to complete.

He turned and looked to the other members of the bridge crew, including his command staff, and nodded before pressing something on a command screen in the center of the room. A map of a small outpost on the world below appeared, as well as the blueprints of a small shuttle which had brought the expedition to the world, and had stayed to provide a method back off the world, or a means of escape in case of an emergency. To the left of this, the photos and names of fourteen people appeared, the team that had led this expedition, including four security personnel.

"Listen up, two months ago, an expedition was sent to the moon, designated IG-55 by the lovely people who make our star charts. The objective of this expeditionary team, given by one of the mining corporations operating in the area, was to examine the moon, and establish whether or not it was fit for a gas mining and refining colony. Things were going well until a week ago, when inexplicably contact was lost with the expeditionary team. Since then, we have not heard any word from them, and the corporation that paid them to conduct the expedition contacted command, asking for an investigation into the situation."

He paused for a moment to catch his breath before continuing the briefing

"That is where we come in, our objective is to fid the expeditionary team and their ship, and, if possible, recover them and their ship. While that would be the best case scenario, we have no idea what has actually happened down there, so the investigation team will be going in blind. We will be taking this one step at a time, and you should approach the situation with extreme caution until we know more. Be prepared for a possible violent situation, or even a first contact situation."

He watched as several worried looks were exchanged following that last bit of information. Everyone in the Interstellar Systems Navy, especially those aboard a ship that was a veteran of the First Contact Conflict, knew all too well what had happened last time someone had discovered an alien race, and no one wanted a repeat of that battle. Confident they understood, he turned to the map of the outpost and contined.

"First priority will be to secure the data on the main computer of the shuttle, there may be important data stored on it which may shed some light on things, so we will search it first. Second Priority will be to search the outpost, and search for survivors and additional information, and to recover any potentially sensitive data which may be present, the mining company will reward those who recover that data. "

He paused again to let the information sink in to the team that would be going down, and then continued again.

"We will be remaining in orbit to keep sensors looking for any vessels which may be nearby, so you will have our fire support if things should go poorly. Stick to your training and everyone should come home safely and with some cash in their pockets, good luck."

The team members and shuttle pilots present each stood and saluted, before leaving the bridge and heading to the ships hanger, where a small shuttle awaited them. Minutes later, Mordian watched through one of the monitors as the shuttle departed, leaving the safety of the ships hanger, and entering the void, before drifting down towards the planet, trails of ion gas left behind by the shuttles engines. He gave a silent prayer for the marine infantry in that shuttle, for all he knew, they could be heading straight to their deaths, bu all he could do now was watch, and hope that things went well in the shadow of the gas giant.

[Glorious Terran Empire]

10th of May, 2458 CE
Unknown Star System, Stellar Orbit, ITN Oberon

Captain Arthur "Theseus" Veracruz ordered the jump to unknown space in a routine exploration mission. There was a precursor data cache pointing to this region of space, something was hidden here, or something happened here. The Errant were fickle, whether something had already happened or not and what the significance was are lost, only the place and that it was indeed important were stored. As such, one of the first few Excalibur class battleships was chosen, for it could make the trip in a meaningful time, deploying its own jump beacons that would persist for over a year to facilitate a return voyage. The mission was simple; First Contact with all along the way, Accurate Location of designated point from the cache left by the Errant, and Acquisition of Possible Artifacts.

He was sent on a goddamn scavenger hunt by the Science Ministry's Xenoarcheology subcommittee.

Beyond that, the ship was chosen for its combat efficacy, a single Excalibur is comparable to twelve of its predecessors in combat, high speed and durability, and updated meson-based antimatter reactor made the vessel capable of long range, long time combat behind enemy lines. Its firepower nearly unmatched by any other ship in its weight class, and with its special means of detection and concealment, it was a ghost capable of tracking any object with certainty, both within sight and those which only have the influence of gravity to prove their existence. The cloaking device was a marvel, but it sucked basically all the excess power the reactor fed out to the capacitor, and since it was a light bending effect, he couldn't use his graser turrets when cloaked. Thankfully, he never had to use the wretched thing to get out of a bind, he was still at the helm of a massive Imperial military asset. The sensors he carried were gravitic, so even though the cloaking device bent light all around the vessel, he could still determine where an enemy was by their spacetime fluctuations.

For now, he arrived at a stable point of orbit over the star, letting his energy shields dissipate the massive amounts of heat and ionizing radiation before they cooked the ship and crew. Followed by scanning all potential signatures that showed life, only to reveal that Veracruz warped to the system neighboring quite a bit of development. Broadcasts and signatures delayed by a few years revealed that he wasn't alone in this region of space. For now, he would set the vessel's onboard AI, Titania, towards the task of decyphering the alien language and updating onboard translation matrices and vocal projectors to properly introduce themselves later. Unfortunately, the process wasn't swift, so the captain then ordered probes to be launched around system to scan for any signatures matching the Errant relic's hints, and while his Executive Officer micromanaged the probe deployment, Veracruz opened a quantum channel to Terra itself.

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"Captain Arthur Veracruz, callsign Theseus, of the Imperial Terran Navy vessel Oberon, hull designation BBSO-175, reporting on the status of Operation Longstrider. We have entered the first of twelve systems in the region specified, and begun the search in earnest. Furthermore, we have discovered intelligent signatures coming from the fifth star system in our chain. Requesting permission to divert to priority system five and establish First Contact once all probes have been accounted for or replaced in system one."

"Theseus, message received. Under orders from Naval High Command and the Ministry of Science, permission granted. Deploy jump beacon in system one. We shall use this to bridge in escorts if necessary."

"Request two escorts and one scouting vessel. We'll be deploying our mobile service and repair depot on an asteroid about 5 megameters from the beacon."

"Copy, Theseus. En route, escorts will arrive within 3 days."

"Man, 3 days. Shows you how far we are. We should be ready to jump into system in a day or two once we decypher their language. We'll jump back to the rendezvous if something comes up. Theseus, Out."

"Do not needlessly endanger your crew or the Oberon, Captain. HQ Out."

13th of May, 2458 CE
Unknown Star System LS-1, Stellar Orbit, Service and Repair Depot "Longstrider"

There was much more difficulty in actually getting the small substation into working order than was thought previously, as the asteroid needed to be halted from its spin. By the time the escorts arrived, the Oberon was still in system, having been prepped for instantaneous wormhole jump for almost a full day. They gleamed some information from those old and distant communications. Apparently, they were going to be making contact with the Interstellar Systems Republic, a federal republic which is still nascent on the astropolitical scene, though apparently it's had to face quite a few hardships. A common chord through which first contact could be furthered into a potential partnership.

Captain Veracruz was given the command of two Alcove class destroyers and a Legion-Class scout vessel. Quickly, the two Alcoves were put towards guarding the depot, which had begun to manufacture more sensor probes and some spare parts to repair any potential damage. The Oberon had the on-board science team and the security teams assigned to the by the ministry use the depot to act as a distant headquarters. After all, the Oberon was finally going to jump into system five. With it was the Legion class vessel Sagittarius, headed by Daniel Jaeger. The Oberon would arrive, launch a few probes to get a sensory data link around the system and identify a place to arrive that wouldn't invoke panic, and then begin first contact. The Sagittarius would look for any place that registered an Errant data signature and designate it for the Oberon.

Failing to find one, it would launch a jump beacon for future use, and then immediately return to the previous system. Neither should be easily detectable on arrival due to their specialized wormhole jump drives having a lessened spacetime splash compared to the standard naval jump drive.

[Interstellar Systems Republic]

Captain Mordian Kiltan
ISNS Nightguard
Liberator Class Cruiser

---

The shuttle had already disappeared into the thick atmosphere of the moon below when the Liberator had entered a low orbit. The blues, greens, and browns of the moon below would normally be quite the beautiful sight. However Mordian could not help but feel a sense of dread emanate from the moon orbiting the gas giant that circled the star. It was the same feeling someone might get from an abandoned house, or a forest at night, like the shadows of the moon hid something dark, and dangerous.

He was moved from his silent pondering of the moon below by a red blip on the view screen in front of him. He pressed the blip, and the ships artificial assistant took form, an artificial intelligence, of third generation which had become a common feature of Interstellar Navy ships.

"What is it Alecia?"

"Captain, the Radio-Electromagnetic sensors just picked up the remnants of a faint radiation burst, the sensor operator failed to notice, but to no fault of his own. The reading was barely registering at all. I estimate the burst originated approximately 1.25 million kilometers from our current location."

The captain frowned, there were several thi ngf s that could cause that, weapon detonations, power core leaks, and even energy weapon discharges. However he knew better than to assume things were as they seemed.

"Any idea what caused the burst?"

"It is not confirmed, and I have no actual evidence to support this thesis, but it would appear to be similar to readings recovered from micro-singularities in the Mine Field belt."

This worried Mordian, the minefield belt was a particularly hazardous area within the Interstellar Republic, which had been the end of more than a few ships that had tried to traverse it. However at the same time, it was a bit of a relief, since it did mean that the burst was unlikely to mean a hostile threat.

"I see, keep an eye out for more of these bursts, and if they repeat, let's chart it and leave some warning boys in the area to alert ships that travel through the area in the future, it may be what happened to the ship"

---

LC-55 Surface
Lieutenant Nylan Oril
3rd Interstellar Navy Marine Detachment

Lieutenant Nylan felt the shuttle shake as it entered the moons atmosphere, and closed his eyes as he waited for the worst of atmospheric entry to pass. He despised mystery drops like this, the lack of intel could easily get him, and the men under his command killed. However in this instance, there had not been much other choice,and so here they were, landing on a moon that could very well be infested with all sorta of nasties.

He felt the shaking subside, and then the shuttles pilot spoke over the shuttle's intercom

"Approaching the LZ, the outpost should be in visual now."

The covers for the shuttles six mall windows lifted, revealing green forests and hillsides. The Lieutenant then noticed grey steel buildings, the outpost that he had been tasked with investigating, as well as the form of the interplanetary shuttle which had brought the survey team there in the first place, their primary objective at the moment. Before long the ground came closer and closer, and the ramp started lowering, letting in the air of the moon outside the shuttle.

The Lieutenant brought his rifle, a simple weapon which would be familiar to even an industrial era soldier,to his shoulder, and prepared himself for the possibility of a firefight breaking out from the moment he stepped off of the shuttle.

A few moments later, the shuttle glided to a steady stop, and the mission began.

"Dismount, standard formation, move!"

The Lieutenant stepped out first, followed by the other twelve soldiers that made up his unit. He looked around, carefully examining the tree lines and buildings in his line of sight.

Once he was confident that there was nothing that would shoot at them, he made a hand movement and spoke.

"Start moving towards the shuttle, rules of engagement apply until we have more information."

With that order, the marines started making their way towards the small ship, with no knowledge of what they might find.

[Ennexus]

General Dolez stood at the windows of the observation deck overlooking the shuttlebay. Dozens of technicians could be seen below, nervously working at different stations positioned all over the scaffolding that filled the far end of the bay. On a normal ship, this would have been a shuttle parking area, but for this mission it had been turned into a rig to dock a special prototype. One which everyone was eagerly awaiting to return.

Dolez frowned. This was the riskiest part of their mission, field-testing their latest prototype. He had spent the past few years heading development of these new weapons, and having one flying free without direct supervision worried him greatly. His eyes wandered around the room. Yes, this was risky, but he had no choice. The Special Projects Director for their government had been clear: the new Mech's would NOT be tested anywhere near Federal Republic space. Finding a secure system away from major trade routes was a necessity. At least he was able to requisition the use of a long-range Windam-class explorer cruiser to support these tests.

A whistle from the comm panel broke through his thoughts. "Dolez here," he said.

"Sir! Signal from Lieutenant Harc! He's returning to the ship."

"Good," he replied, "Open the bay doors and tractor him in." Through the window he watched as the large clamshell-shaped space doors split apart and slid open, revealing the back of space beyond. At first he couldn't see anything, but slowly a shape started to appear out of the darkness, lit by it's own thruster exhaust. Klaxon's sounded below as the tractor beam activated, locking onto the object and pulling it into the bay. Nodding in satisfaction, Dolez turned from the windows and headed for the turbolift.

Moments later, he was entering the bay itself, just as the docking sequence was completed. He glanced up a the scaffold above him, where a hatch had just opened. Two technicians stepped aside as a figure climbed out, fully dressed in a flight suit. The figure removed his helmet and, seeing Dolez, stood at attention with a salute. "Sir!" he said.

Dolez returned the salute. "Welcome back Lieutenant Harc. Thank you for returning the prototype in one piece." His frown returned. "Did I get your transmission correct? Did you really attack an unknown outpost?"

Harc shrugged. "I apologize if I acted out of turn, General," he said, "We thought this was an uninhabited system, and we can't have any witnesses seeing the Mech."

"I know, I know," replied Dolez, holding his head in frustration. "But a first contact situation should have been better handled." He looked up at Harc, who remained silent. "It's done. Let us hope we can leave the system before anyone else finds out what happened."

------------------------

Ten minutes later, the ship started to pull away from it's orbit above the moon's north pole, hiding in the magnetic interference. It headed outwards towards the edge of the system....

[Glorious Terran Empire]

13th of May, 2458 CE
LS-5, Outer Solar System, ITN Oberon

Insertion to the star system was smooth as always. Veracruz had served 4 years in command of a Vanguard class battleship, and he knew what a jump drive was supposed to feel like. This new one on the Excalibur class was like a light swim to a roaring crashing tide as the other jump drives are. Still, there was a mission. The Sagittarius had already warped away and began to scan each planetary system, and Titania had determined the best probability of first contact would be to find a gas mining station or orbital infrastructure around the outer system. Once the probes began to resolve a few readings it was determined. There was actually a vessel stationed in low orbit around a moon. A ship which was far from the rest of the infrastructure in the system. A nod to his bridge crew was all it took for the Oberon to make its way there.

Veracruz opted to arrive with the standard protocol of warping twelve megameters away and hailing the vessel. Preliminary scans showed it was a rather outdated war vessel of some sort. Unmistakable given its design. It was likely ISR Navy. "Titania, open a channel and try that translation algorithm."

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Greetings, Naval Vessel of the Interstellar Systems Republic,

This is captain Arthur Veracruz of the ITN Oberon, part of a long-range scientific and diplomatic expedition by the Terran Empire. We come in peace. Beware that this vessel is fully capable of self defense, any aggressive act will be returned with extreme prejudice.

Do not be alarmed. This vessel is simply here to search for the secrets of aliens long dead, and during so, we happened to hear your electromagnetic echoes in another star system.

We wish to begin proper diplomatic talks with the necessary authorities to negotiate safe travel through this system and an additional eleven within the area light would take 378,400,000,000 seconds to cross, or 12 light-years from this star. We wish to be allowed to explore any and all celestial bodies in the event that they hold any ruins or artifacts of which our mission is based upon. We are authorized to assist in the diplomatic process by rudimentary information sharing, trade of small commodities, and offering aid in the event of local crisis.

This message will repeat on all known languages. Your responses will help to calibrate our translation software. Should discourse be clearly understood between both parties, we can begin proper diplomatic engagements, as well as share the translation data for Terran Standard.

In the meanwhile, the Sagittarius had employed its high-efficiency warp core to zip around the system with sensor probes to check for any artifact the Errant, the Empyreans or the Prometheans would've left, and found nothing throughout the entire star system. This system wasn't it. Though there was evidence of a massive conflict enveloping most inhabited areas at one point. It was at this point that the Sagittarius doubled back on itself to recover its quantum sensor probes, and hastily left the system. The sleek vessel was covered in a specialized coating to scramble EMR feedback, and its on board countermeasure system further scrambled anything using light alone to determine tactical data.

The Sagittarius warped towards LS-1 which, while slower, allowed Captain Jaeger to review the data in peace and letting Veracruz to do the talking.

[Remulia]

The ship was heading at a constant speed towards the farthest star system. Her mission was to establish an outpost on one of the planets.
Captain Elimak was calm: it was not the first time that she did this kind of mission. Elimak was very tall, much taller than the rest of Remulians, apart, her hair was a deep red color and her skin was the color of honey. Its crew consisted of, apart from more Remulians of both sexes, a hundred and ten Eosapiens, a hundred and five Na'vis, and eighty-three Gulphogs.
-Report, Ensign- said the captain.
-We are fifteen light years from the AX-123 system, there is no news ... wait a minute, our sensors picked up something.
-What, Ensign?
-I don't know captain, it seems ... they seem to be other ships.
Silence soon took hold of the cabin as the crew members asked themselves the big question: "Are we facing a first contact?" The captain was nervous and not without reason: they could be facing new allies or enemies as vicious as the Koln, who threatened to invade the empire together with the Hardarian and the Gryan, so she could not make that decision lightly. After much thought and analysis, Elimak came to a decision.
-Pilot, when you give the signal, stop three kilometers from the system, Ensign, prepare the translator: we will make first contact.
----------------------------------------------------------------

[Cosmic Unity Church]

Outside Solvan System, Surveyor Fleet #-17

Forward. Forward. Forward. For centuries we have dwelled in the darkness of space, generations upon generations of our finest warrior-priests have kept alive the flame of the Almighty. We have endured years and years of strife and misery, knowing that one day He would allow us to find another one of His pristine worlds, ready to be converted by the faithfull. But now, pain without end, the infidels have arrived first. Our sensors, while weakened by years of travelling in the void, with collisions with micrometeorites relentlessely attacking our ship, still stand functional. We detected a ship, a ship of moderate size, indicating that this system, the first we have the pleasure of setting our eyes in after centuries of travel alone in the void, is occupied. Doesn't matter. We will see to it that these people are converted or die trying.

The Archstrategist was meditating. Closed eyes, crossed legs and arms, he sat in his private quarters, adorned with all the artifacts his predecessors had plundered from civillizations deemed infidel. He reflected in the discovery of that ship. He knew that the other ship could have detected his ship, and the Surveyor-class Corvette was not quite prepared for a fight. Wait and learn. With little effort he pressed the small red button in his right side, unleashing four self-replicating probes. They would head to the system and gather information about it and the ship. They could be detected and intercepted, yes, but the Archstrategist needed to know what was going on and why.

[Organized States]

Major Matthew "JOY" Armand
Detachment 1, 99th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 9th Reconnaissance Wing
Organized States Space Force
Outer Edge of the Solvan System


The RF-119C Aurora was a unique spacecraft by virtue of its mere existence. Built originally as a long-range, space superiority fighter for the Space Force, it had eventually been shoehorned into dozens of different roles due to its profound versatility. The sleek, black fighter with a crew of two had since been used for electronic warfare, suppression of enemy aerospace defenses (SEAD), and even a chase craft for the flight test program at Dreamland. However, the fighter's long legs had forced it into another role, Strategic Reconnaissance. When combined with tanker support before an FTL jump, the F-119 was one of the few spacecraft in the inventory that could take off from traditional runways planetside and fight for space dominance within a matter of minutes. Despite the joy of flying the Aurora, or as it was affectionately known to its pilots as the "Big Bird" due to its large size, this was not JOY's initial choice of assignment. He would much rather be where he belonged, in the fighter wings, preparing and getting ready to take the fight to the enemy. Not gathering electronic intelligence on them at the edge of random solar systems.

A graduate of the Zoo and a talented astronautical engineer, JOY had been one of the few officers in the Space Force asked to help bring the reconnaissance version of the fighter online back two years ago, but he never expected anything more than an Officer Performance Review bullet from it. Instead, he was now stuck. Away from fighters, away from his brothers and sisters in fighting the good fight, and away from his family.

"JOY, you good up there, brotha?" asked the Reconnaissance Systems Officer, Captain Nick "RJ" Rodriguez as he inputted the commands for the jet's sensors to begin collecting transmissions across the electromagnetic spectrum and most importantly, search for nuclear detonations and FTL jumps throughout this solar system. OSSPACECOM, the combatant command that most OSSF units were assigned to, had been relatively keen on ensuring that it knew what was going on throughout the galaxy, particularly after a few run-ins with dozens of different human factions that inhabited humanity's ever-expanding colonies throughout the stars.

"All good, man. Just looking out at eternal nothingness and realizing how small I am again." JOY responded sarcastically through the microphone to his RSO in the jet's back seat, embracing RJ's sense of sardonic humor.

"You Academy guys are all the same. Too smart for their own good." RJ responded, poking gently at JOY's Zoo background. He was like most other Space Force officers, commissioned from a civilian university through ROTC and fighting their way to whatever pilot slots weren't already scooped up by that year's graduating class from the Academy.

"Not my fault I was smart enough to get in."

"Not my fault I was smart enough to choose not to go there and go party instead."

JOY had to laugh at that one. RJ definitely had gotten him good there. "Just shut up and check out the sensors, bud." He laughed as he took the stick and used just a little bit of thrust to place the jet in a trajectory towards the gas giant that dominated the system.

[Interstellar Systems Republic]

Captain Mordian Kiltan
ISNS Nightguard
Liberator Class Cruiser

---

Mordian watched the view screen in front of him, reading several data readouts which were being fed to the screen simultaneously. One if these readouts included vitals for the members of the team below,a method used to keep track of Interstellar Navy Away teams which had been used for more than a century. However those readouts were suddenly interrupted bu the red hue of an alert warning, and the blaring of the ships combat alarm. The ships Artifical Assistant manifested on the display, before speaking.

"Captain, we have received an incoming message, however the source is both unkown, and unidentified. Presenting the message now."

Mordian nodded, however before he could respond his sensor operator shouted out.

"Sir, just picked up an unidentified bogey, small, about the size of a shuttle. Purpose is unkown and they dont seem to be identifying themselves, what are your orders?"

Mordian frowned, either this was the unkown source of the message, or this was entirely different group entirely. If it were the latter, this would make the situation much more complicated, especially for his men on the moon below. He knew that he had to do something, and fast, which is what compelled him to take the actions that he did.

"Relocate the ship between us and the unidentified craft, bring the main guns online and calculate a warning shot in advance, and send two separate transmissions, both using different encryption, but saying the same thing. Let's try not to alert the other parties that there are others in the system besides us, I dont want to accidentally cause an incident."

With this, the ships artifical assistant started the assigned task, sending out carefully coded messages, while simultaneously separating the source of those transmissions from the rest of the ships systems.

"Unidentified Vessel, this is the Interstellar Navy Vessel Nightguard, you are currently within the territory of the Interstellar Systems Republic. If you have your Visitors Liscense, please present it now, if not, cease your movements and dock with our vessel immediately."

In the same moments that this transmission was sent, the ship began moving, its ion engines flaring in a bright display of blue, ionized gas, as it began moving through the emptiness of the void above the moon. After reaching the estimated point of interception of the smaller craft, the ships maneuvering thrusters fired, turning the ship on the spot towards the small vessel, bringing tis two massive spinal coilguns to face directly at the approaching vessel. Much less noticable was the change in orientation of the targeting sensors of the PDL Strips, which also targeted the small craft, weapons which had made the use of fighters in space combat near suicidal. A reason why they were no longer used for military purposes within the Interstellar Systems Navy. The ship also began flashing the vessel with an IR spotlight, marking it as an unkown on the targeting displays of its weapons officers, while simultaneously trying to scramble any infrared based targeting systems the ship might have.

[Ennexus]

As his ship made it's way away from the moon, General Dolez watched the tactical map displayed on the main viewscreen. He leaned forward to rest his hands on the guardrail that wrapped around the center of the bridge. "I thought you said there was just one outpost," he asked without looking at the pilot standing behind him.

The pilot shrugged. "There was," Harc replied, "and one of those ships is undoubtedly here because of it."

"What about the others?" the general asked.

"I have no idea," Harc replied. "Perhaps others who have wandered into the system for various reasons." He smiled, his face mask hiding his eyes. "It looks like you will still get your chance for a proper first contact after all."

Dolez frowned as he studied the positions of all the ships. At least three unknown contacts were marked, with two possibles. This was far more action than he had planned on. "Very well. Since they've possibly spotted us already, let's make the best of it. Hopefully we can conclude this peacefully before they discover what happened to the outpost." He glanced back at Harc on that last comment, then stood to his full height of just over two meters. Combined with his broad shoulders, he had an imposing presence. "Set a course out of the system," he ordered the helm, "but slow, so we don't look like we're fleeing. And prepare to send out a message on all subspace frequencies."

"This is General Dolez, Federal Republic of Ennexus, Division 2 Commander. We were conducting a survey mission and were unaware this system was already claimed."

[Cosmic Unity Church]

[Outside Solvan System, Surveyor Fleet #-17]


Fear. Doubt. Rage. We are loosing control of the situation. The Infidels are multiplying at an extremely fast pace. We must act, but we must not attack. That would be suicide. Forward. Forward. Forward. For the Almighty. We will spread the word of the Cosmic Unity Church.

The Archstrategist had made his decision. He walked slowly, deliberately towards the bridge. His ship was old, rusted and, much like it's crew, tired. Tired of spending hundreds of years drifting through the cold and empty darkness of the void. Once he reached the bridge, orders were issued to gather all the crew on that same location. The Archpriest, an old Arr'kh'oon, licked his scaly lips before beginning, his low pitched voice echoing through the room. "My faithful subordinates, we have discovered new lands, new civilisations, all potential new converts for the One true faith." His small yellow eyes darted across the room to examine the reaction of his subordinates " We will proceed with extreme caution, and we will not attack them if we are not attacked first" For now. Once we have any ally, the infidels will feel how it is like to be the target of the Church's rage. The crew assented unanimously, and returned to their assignments. The Archpriest prepared to broadcast his greetings to the other civilizations.

Greetings. I am Archpriest Harm'Hon, from the Cosmic Unity Church. We come in peace, but be aware that any attack or display of ill will directed at our missionaries will be subject of merciless retaliation.

[Glorious Terran Empire]

LS-5, High Orbit of IG-55, ITN Oberon

"Message received, Captain, as well as multiple signatures from the outer system. There's also the signature fleeing the moon that the Nightguard is trying to intercept." As the message was read aloud by Veracruz, another came in, this time on a subspace channel. Initially, sensor warning went off over it due to the use of subspace by some of Terra's most fearsome enemies. Once the second message was read, another came in from the outer regions of the star system. "We're in the middle of a goddamn veil-lift occurrence. Communications Officer, send them another message. Following that, Helmsman, warp us to the fringe of the system and jump us out of here. We're not getting involved in the inevitable wars that will ensue unless we have to."

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Interstellar Navy Vessel Nightguard, this is the Imperial Terran Navy vessel Oberon. We have no such license as previously mentioned. We will once again repeat that our goal is peace and exploration. We will depart your system as requested.

As a gesture of peace, we will inform you that our sensors detect multiple foreign vessels crossing into the system. We will now send you their angles relative to yourself. We shall depart, as there are now too many unknowns.

We will also leave you with the knowledge of how to contact us once we depart. We will fire a dim laser towards the system in which we have based ourselves thrice before departure. We will be waiting for a response of peace or a response of war. Keep in mind we will still be visiting nearby star systems for research and exploration.

I imagine, Captain, that we will meet again once it is identified which of these new arrivals seeks our mutual demise.

Once the laser designator was used, the Oberon warped back to the system edge and promptly activated its jump drives. The quantum-entangled communications of the previously launched sensor probes would keep the Terrans notified of the goings-on in the star system almost in real time.

"Captain, what's a veil-lift occurrence?" The Tactical Officer asked after an uneasy silence.

"Moments across history show that certain tendencies erupt. Mass occurrences of first contact after a specific event. Everyone conveniently arriving in the same system for the same reason at first. Make contact or take over. Usually this happens to societies that spend little time around their own local galactic community. Finally one act puts them into the cross traffic of the rest of the galaxy. Or everyone heard their echoes through space at the same relative times, and decided to pay a visit."

An uneasy silence gripped the bridge.

"For now, I want nothing to do with that. The Empire cannot be drawn into a war so far away from its borders for such a banal thing as Errant biological data. We were the first to hail the ISR, that makes us so far the first and first non-hostile contact of the occurrence. Should the others prove violent we can try the benevolent intervention angle and use that to allow us our damned exploration rights. I'd like to not have to vaporize old warships just to explore abandoned precursor rocks if I could avoid it."

[Guuj Xaat Kil]

Context, Contacts, and the Compass

Perhaps some context was needed for the situation Captain Galen was in, it was frankly a confusing one at best, something that could be covered in a series of history books at worst.

The Persean Sector was a mess, already was a mess, and was somewhat a mess even now that its been tenuously united under force of arms into a confederation; Hegemony and Tri-Tachyon were at each other's throats 24/7, the Luddites and everyone with high tech were also at each others throats 24/7, and there were still pissed off elements in the new Persean Confederation, angered at the blow to their sovereignty. To make it all worse, the years 218 to 220 were punctuated by the absolute chaos of the Sigma Distortion event, which was basically continuing where the Blade Breakers left off and researching the Sigma Distorted planets, especially Lenze. Much of that mess was under wraps, but the end result was the entire sector being relocated in a different Milky Way galaxy, they knew as all the stars were in the wrong places, a lot of hyperspace storms were also blown away, much to the eternal gratitude of fleets like the one Galen was leading right now. After a decade of stabilization and technological advancement to the side, exploration of the new world beyond was deemed feasible, and so went the first drones.

Curiously, much of them failed on the way, but some arrived at their destinations, and all of that some returned to prove that a exploration trip and a return trip was feasible. And so the Compass-class exploration vessel was born, a capital sized, speedy, and economical ship with a flight deck equivalent to an Astral and logistics capacities superior to that of an Infernus-class Battlewagon. It was essentially the spiritual successor of the old Domain-era Motherships that kickstarted the whole exploration and exploitation of the Persean Sector. And leading this kilometer sized craft was none other than old Captain Galen, one of the few that held the line during the early days of the Lenze Pacification. And right now the poor man had to oversee the wake up of the entire crew as well as taking care of the hyperspace storm damages inflicted on the ship while travelling through the dimension. "I thought the SDE blew all these storms away for good," he sullenly spoke as the first tired crew members began streaming out of the cryo-chambers, some waving at him and some immediately bee-lining for the coffee machines, "Or at least, blow away storms in my path."

He looked at the bridge below. Already nearing full complement, the captain decided now would be a good time for a quick role call for bridge crew and a pep talk. Finishing with the former, he continued to his next talking point, "Alright folks, congratulations," he gave them all a smile, "We're out of the Persean Sector, welcome to the boonies people." The bridge erupted into cheering as their efforts were now in the process of being rewarded. "In other good news, nobody died in cryo, the hyperspace storm damage we encountered barely dented our supplies and is being repaired, and best of all, we're right next to a gas giant jump point." he continued, pressing a button on the control panel to show the gravity wells of the star system they were next to in terms of hyperspace location, "A gas giant with a moon, and another planet as shown by that nascent over there. We're also finding artificial signals, so get ready to talk to some grays, or worse, fellow humans." A good laugh was shared between the crew at that last joke, but eventually it died down as he began ordering people to get to their stations and prepare for jump.

The fringe jump point had been chosen instead of the gas giant's or even the solar jump point, and transverse jumping into the nascent was out of the question as the risk of a hostile first contact was too great to ignore. Slowly the ships engines shifted from a sustained to regular burn configuration, reducing speed but increasing maneuverability and decreasing the ship's signature, but if these aliens or people were any good, they'd spot them the moment they left the jump point. Soon the Compass was over the fringe jump point, and with a push of a button, made that fateful jump into uncharted space.

In realspace, the unmistakable signatures of a rip into hyperspace began emanating in some point just beyond the gas giant's orbit. For a few seconds it pulsated before slowly fading into a quiet end. The Confederation Exploration Ship Compass was in system.

[Remulia]

—We received a signal—yells the ensing —It comes from another ship.
—Stop all engines, we need to translate and think what would be our next movement.
The imperial ship, an older version of imperial ships, stops three parsecs away from the stellar system. The crew were translating the message as fast as they can. When they finished translating, one hour later, Elimak gather the rest of the crew to talk about it.
—so— said an Eosapiens with the name of "Korls" —It seems they are peaceful.
—But also, their message said that they would retaliate if they are menaced— said a Na'vi with the name of "Ney'trya".
—So, what would be do now?— said the Elimak.
—I think we should send another message to all the ships that are going to the system and the ones who are in it—suggested another female Remulian named "Kria".
—That's a good idea— said Korls.
—Indeed—said Elimak —Let's do it!!!.

Hello, this is the Remulian ship X-124. We come in peace..our intentions in the system were to install an outpost in one of the planets or moons. We mean not harm.

The message was sent in all frequencies to all ships around and inside the system.

—The hard part of this has begun: we will wait their answer...

[Interstellar Systems Republic]

Captain Mordian Kiltan
ISNS Nightguard
Liberator Class Cruiser

---

The captain frowned as he analyzed his situation, so far he already had no fewer than two confirmed contacts that had been detected by his sensors. However, from the messages, being translated as they were, there were at least two more out there that were out of the effective range of his sensors. This was a bad thing, not only was he dealing with an unkown vessel, but several of potentially vastly different species and alignments, and some of them could be adversaries of each other, which meant that the current situation was complicated, very complicated. He thought for a moment, before making a decision.

"What is the best guess for an ETA of ISN reinforcements?"

"Squadrom 131 is the closest, ETA would be four minutes, however given the current situation, that may be four minutes too long."

He frowned, before pressing a button on his command panel, opening a quick communications line to his team below, and speaking

"Might want to speed things along team leader, we have unwanted company of several types, get the shuttles black box and hurry back aboard, I dont want to be caught in low orbit if a fight starts"

He pressed the button again, opening up the carefully prepared communications link, which had been isolated from the ships Systems to prevent an attempt at cyberwarfare.

"Vessels reading this link, I am Captain Kiltan of the Interstellar Systems Navy, you are entering a system that is under the jurisdiction of the Interstellar Systems Republic. Normally I would request an immediate halt for boarding, however the situation does not allow it. Instead, I am sending coordinates now, arrive there so that. First contact proceedings can begin, anyone who disobeys has twenty four hours to leave the system, or you will be considered in violation of ISR law. That clock starts now."

He then added the coordinates to that manually, and then pressed the button again, before giving out more orders.

"Charge the main guns, I do not want to be caught unprepared should any of these new arrivals try anything."

The aging vessel suddenly began flaring to life electrically, as the two massive guns began feeding electrical power to its electromagnetic coils, which surrounded the two massive guns which made up the main armament of the battle proven cruiser, weapons that have proven themselves reliable and effective time and time again over the near century of the ships service.

[Ennexus]

"Vessels reading this link, I am Captain Kiltan of the Interstellar Systems Navy, you are entering a system that is under the jurisdiction of the Interstellar Systems Republic. Normally I would request an immediate halt for boarding, however the situation does not allow it. Instead, I am sending coordinates now, arrive there so that. First contact proceedings can begin, anyone who disobeys has twenty four hours to leave the system, or you will be considered in violation of ISR law. That clock starts now."

"Well General?" Harc asked with a sly smile, "what should we do? Leave the system or proceed to their rendezvous?"

Dolez just stood silently for several minutes, while the bridge crew waited nervously. Finally, he stepped forward. "Change course! Take us to the designated coordinates! Send a complete report back to FleetCom! Tell them I am initiating First Contact on my authority!" He barked the orders out in quick succession, and the crew jumped to their tasks. He turned back to face Harc. "I trust the anti-scan field has been set up in the launch bay?"

"Of course," Harc replied. "We've taken all precautions to make sure no one can scan the bay and get any information about the prototype Mech."

"Hopefully it will be enough," sighed Dolez. "You're dismissed, Lieutenant." Harc saluted, and using the turbolift, left the bridge. Dolez sighed again. Harc was a brilliant pilot and officer, but he sometimes acted a bit to rashly. Rubbing his forehead, the General turned back to the viewscreen. He would deal with Harc later. Right now, he had more pressing matters to attend to....

--------------------

"This is General Dolez, Federal Republic of Ennexus, Division 2 Commander. For Captain Kiltan of the Interstellar Systems Navy. We are moving to the coordinates you have requested, and are standing by for further communications."

[Piethrixia]

Piethrixian Armed Forces Deep Space Probe 10-1241 Command Line | Unexplored Space


19:00:00 - situation normal
19:01:16 - FTL Message #1,659,201 sent
19:15:45 - FTL Message #1,659,200 Received by PAF Command
20:00:00 - situation normal
20:01:16 - FTL Message #1,659,202 sent
20:15:45 - FTL Message #1,659,201 Received by PAF Command
21:01:00 - Unknown radio messages detected
21:01:16 - FTL Message #1,659,203 sent
21:15:45 - FTL Message #1,659,202 Received by PAF Command
22:01:00 - Unknown radio messages closer
22:01:16 - FTL Message #1,659,204 sent
22:15:45 - FTL Message #1,659,203 Received by PAF Command
23:16:40 - Command FTL Message #2 Received "Investigate"
23:16:41 - Course Plotting
23:16:42 - Course Plotted
23:16:43 - Thruster Test
23:16:49 - Test Complete | Fuel Level 99%
23:16:50 - Thrusters firing
23:46:02 - Course Change Complete | Fuel Level 98.6%
23:47:04 - Radio Messages identified: Class 2 communications (dated: 100 Years ago)
23:47:04 - FTL Message #1,659,205 Sent
00:27:03 - FTL Message Received by PAFF-Retribution (PAFF-0001F-R) Relayed to Command
00:27:06 - Command FTL Message #3 Received "Await Retreival, Hold course."


PAFF-0001F-R (PAFF Retribution F) | Bridge | Unknown Space | 01:10:02

The Comms officer looks up from their console, "should be coming up on the probe now, over a century old tech and its still running normally." They look out of the bridge as a small object starts drifting towards the ship, the captain stands and stares at it, "match its speed and get a tug out there to pull it in."

PAFF-0001F-R (PAFF Retribution F) | Bridge | Unknown Space | 01:30:01

The intercom comes online and the Chief engineers voice fills the bridge, "we got the data out of it, want me to get ready for another jump to figure out if the civilization that made this is dead yet?" The captain smiles slightly and presses a button on a small console to the side of his chair. "is that not our orders?"

PAFF-0001F-R (PAFF Retribution F) | Unknown Space | 01:31:00

The ships PA System blares to life and a robotic voice fills the ship. "All hands prepare for Warp, estimated time to arrival is in 1 hour, Five minutes, and twenty-three seconds. Possible combat scenario General Quarters will sound at ten minutes before exit." The slight hum of the warp core then replaces it once again as the ship slips away to faster than light speeds.

PAFF-0001F-R (PAFF Retribution F) | Unknown Space | 02:21:00

"General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands man your battle stations. Combat probable, Battle State 2, Prepare to arm warheads, Material Condition Zebra 2, Bulkheads prepared for depressurization, Warp core at maximum power." The ship bursts in a flurry of activity, with crew members running across the ship to get to their stations. The Hangar is full of people running to their aircraft, vehicles ferrying weapons zip around the massive empty space, people put helmets and space gear on, the doors to the hangar lock shut, slowly the massive blast doors of the Hangar open, revealing an image of streaks of light as thin as a pinhead flying past as the ship rips through space. The PA System blares to life again, "Hangar depressurized, preparing to begin Flight deck operations."

PAFF-0001F-R (PAFF Retribution F) | Bridge | Unknown Space | 02:22:00

"9 minutes until we exit." the navigations officer yells out, The bridge crew gets up one by one and goes to the back of the bridge to get into an EVA suit, the thin suit being able to withstand the vacuum of space for enough time to get out of a depressurised section of the ship, as the captain gets up to get his suit on the Navigations officer calls out "2 minutes" and the captain begins getting into the slightly puffy flight suit.

PAFF-0001F-R (PAFF Retribution F) | Bridge | Unknown Space | 02:30:50

The Navigations officer begins calling out the seconds to exit, "ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, one, Braking" The ships thruster, warp core, and inertial dampening system rapidly go into full power to slow the ship down almost instantly.

PAFF-0001F-R (PAFF Retribution F) | Bridge | Unknown Space | 02:30:50

The ship appears in a flash of light, it slowly drifts forwards, its Turrets spinning around, scanning the sky. "captain, there's a bunch of ships in this system, would you like me to contact them?" The captain looks out the bridge, "Go ahead, look through their broadcasts and put it through the computer, then send a Universal standard greeting."

The Warship Broadcasts a standard greeting. "This is the PAFF Retribution F of the Dominion of Piethrixia, we are on a mission of exploration and Peace."
In the background of the message the Robotic voice of the Ships PA system can be faintly heard "Multiple possible hostile vessels detected, Battle state 3, Arm Warheads, Material Condition Zebra."

[Lutvikkia]

LUTVIKKIA Cutter Yaeddha CD-8

First voyage of the damned

Dravvis Fuliharst took the chair for the first time. His father, had given him the family crest to hang in his situation room. He recalled the command graduation, and his fathers look of pride. Only the second family member to graduate as a Captain. His sister, Allhisia, was lost while on deep exploration of rimward space. A matter of family pride and tradition was to be held up. Now, on the eave of his launch, Dravvis was worried that fate would steal him also.
Draggan Brittwin, Helmsman from the battleship Rettifas, was hand picked, as he had logged more star hours than most of the fleet. Saulvanna Hallizta, Navigator and second officer of the Yaeddha, had tested near computer knowledge of stellar charts. also hand picked for this mission. The rest were, new, to the game. Untested in exploration, and, hopefully not battle. After all this is only a diplomatic cutter, with just the bare minimum of defenses. The new ARC's Artificial Robotic Crewman, were the latest installment from the KL-22 diplomatic meeting.
Our inclusion of that technology, while limited, shows our willingness to expand our own limitations and share in other races culture. Now was Dravvis's time to shine, and show the family, he was fully capable to lead. The bridge was teaming with life, while all final checks were made. The FTL slip drive was brought on line and the latest star charts from recent flights were uploaded. The inter ship comm traffic tripled, as the ship came alive.
Captain Fuliharst : "Bridge to engineering, are we ready Mr. Vansrodd?"
Chief Engineer Mukkolia Vansrodd : "Yes sir, we are primed and ready-hot."
Captain Fuliharst : "Mr. Paratth, notify the yard we are ready to depart. And if you would, inform the yardmaster to retract all the moorings."
Aarithia Paratth Communications : "Aye sir, the yard signals clear path to perimeter. All moorings clearing now sir." A few seconds pass and she reply's. "All moorings cleared, sir, we are free to maneuver."
Captain Fuliharst : "Mr. Brittwin, ahead thrust point five pulse."
Draggan Brittwin Helmsman : "Aye sir, point five pulse."
The tiny red ship did not appear to move at first, but in an instant, she began to move forward with gentile pulses of thrust. Just as she cleared the docks, the retired battleship Mikkita BB-01 fired all her main guns in salute.
Captain Fuliharst : "Send to command Mikkita. Though you are retired, within you still beats the heart of a lion. Yaeddha salutes you."
Aarithia Paratth Communications : "From command Yaeddha, to command Mikkita. Though you are retired, within you still beats the heart of a lion. Yaeddha salutes you."
Draggan Brittwin Helmsman : "Sir, we are clear and free to navigate with engines."
Captain Fuliharst : "Very well Mr. Brittwin, set course One One Zero Mark Two, full drive."
Draggan Brittwin Helmsman : "Aye sir, full drive."

THE SHIP MOVES OUT TO THE EDGE OF THE DRIVE PERIMETER AND JUMPS