A Joint Discovery (Galactya-TSE First Contact) [2 ABT]

51/03/6002
2 ABT


Tiyanki Territories, Great Expanse
Star System 8832 Cerasalsi





The “Mother Of Discovery” was a Zoeiphi Class exploratory vessel sent into the Tiyanki Territories as part of the Empire’s new wave of exploration. 25 Kilometers long, and with a complement of thousands of smaller ships, the Mother was the Empire’s first true mission inside the territories. This central area of the Sector, that in the end effectively functioned as a smaller sector of it’s own, had always been of great curiosity to the Empire, but due to larger astropolitical concerns and projects, it’s exploration had never been a priority. However, as one of the many benefits that Era 3 was bringing to the Empire, the large amount of recent first contacts, rising political tensions, and in part the skirmish that was the Wormhole War, gave Galactya a new impulse, revitalizing it’s drive to explore and expand.

The Mother travelled in Rainbowspace to the system closest to the edge of the Expanses, and then made it’s way inside of them in Realspace, while captioning systems tuned to Rainbowspace confirmed the rumor that the Expanses really did interact with seemingly all dimensions and realities (how something could leave such an impression upon the Bulk would soon become a matter of studies, but as with the search for humanity’s true planet of origin, no answer would ever be found, at least not for a long, long time ).

Dodging the various empires, nations and polities that inhabited the territories, as it was not deemed to be an appropriate to make first contact, the Mother reached the 8832 Cerasalsi Star System. This otherwise normal, unassuming G4 V Yellow Dwarf star was the subject of investigation due to the Eidoboros Array detecting an anomalous energy pulse and subsequent extremely weak signature, emitted approximately 440 years prior.

While deploying several hundred solar scoopdrop probes into Cerasalsi’s photosphere, the Mother remained in the star’s low orbit, surveying the rest of the system’s planets and celestial bodies. After a series of in-depth scans, the weak signal was re-located, coming from a very small body of clear, artificial nature in orbit of the fourth planet in the system, a small, reddish gas giant.

Recalling the scoopdrop probes into their hangars, the ship started to move at relativistic speeds towards the source of the signal, focusing it’s scanners and radars upon the small, alien object.

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OOC: the Freak Show story arc continues in this RP.

The RFS Acteel and her crew had stealthily followed their captivators until the Treecuu had picked up a weak live signal from the stasis ship, which had prompted them to disengage the pursuit. They assumed that the ship likely had been towed there.

Approaching the ship at high warp, it looked like they would be alone in the yellow dwarf system, but just as they dropped out of warp with the stealth systems off as to alert any possible awake Teetacs of their presence, an alarm went off.

“Captain! Massive proximity echo! 624 eecs. Vector: star. Course: headed for the stasis ship. Speed: subluminal” reported the tactical officer.

“Understood. Monitor it” captain Vaac responded.

“Could the Lafars pirates really have built… such a ship?” the Comms officer asked. There was a hint of fear in her voice.

“We have to assume they did”, answered the captain. “And we must protect our long lost brethren. Battle stations! Try to open communications with that ship” he continued calmly.

Vaac additionally ordered the tactical officer to open the doors to some of the ship’s torpedoes as to communicate to the alien ship that they were ready to defend themselves. The active targetting systems would also lock on to the alien ship to make its alarm system warn the aliens that they were under immediate threat of being fired at.

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Immediately, the Mother Of Discovery’s sensors detected what unmistakably were targeting systems locking onto the ship, which could only be followed by the fire of weaponry. However, no attack ever came: a quick scan revealed that yes, there were several offensive weapons present on the alien vessel, but none of them were being fired. Closer analysis revealed that only their launch doors were open, as if whoever was manning the ship wanted them to see it. A method of intimidation, perhaps?

Before the Mother was able to lock onto the alien ship as a response, scans of the ship designs revealed a series of matching templates and images inside the Mother’s Xenosapient Vessel Database. Scans of this alien ship corresponded to designs used by the Treecuu Star Empire, that were given to the Galactyans by the Drakari and the Ryccians.

With the nature and origin of this ship presumably pinpointed, the Mother accepted the sudden communications request hailing from the Treecuu vessel.



VESSEL OF THE TREECUU STAR EMPIRE, THIS IS THE MOTHER OF DISCOVERY, AN EXPLORATION SHIP OF THE GALACTYAN EMPIRE. PLEASE, STATE YOUR INTENTIONS: WE ARE OPEN TO COMMUNICATION WITH YOU, AND HAVE NO HOSTILE INTENT.



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Captain Vaac raised an eyebrow as he heard that the aliens knew his ship’s origin. He responded the Mother.

“Mother of Discovery, this is the Remote Fleet Ship Acteel. We are on a a mission to recover our kin, orbiting this planet. We will defend us and them. How can you assure us that you have no hostile intent?”

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THIS SHIP AND IT'S COMPLEMENT IS PART OF THE EMPIRE'S NEW GRAND EXPLORATORY PROGRAM. THE MOTHER, IN PARTICULAR, WAS SENT TO INVESTIGATE A FAINT SIGNAL THAT HAD BEEN DETECTED BY THE EIDOBOROS ARRAY, A LARGE DISTRIBUTED TELESCOPIC INTERFEROMETER NETWORK MOSTLY USED BY THE EMPIRE TO SURVEY OBJECTS AND PHENOMENA IN DISTANT GALAXIES, ALL THE WAY TO THE EDGE OF THE OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE.

OUR MAI PURPOSE THEREFORE WAS TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THE SIGNAL WAS A RESULT OF NATURAL DISTORTION, OR THE ARTIFICIAL SIGN OF A XENOSAPIENT CIVILIZATION, IN WHICH CASE THE SHIP WOULD ALSO HAVE TO LOCATE THE SOURCE OF THE SIGNAL.

WE HAVE HEARD OF THE ANCIENT COLONY SHIPS OF YOUR ANCESTORS, BUT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE COME ACROSS ONE OF THEM IN... "PERSON". WE HAVE LOOKED FOR THEM IN THE EMPIRE'S NEBULAE, GLOBULES AND CLUSTERS, BUT SO FAR WE HAVE FOUND NONE.

IF YOU WISH TO, WE CAN LEAVE THE COLONY SHIP ALONE FOR YOU TO RETRIEVE ANY BEING WHO MIGHT STILL BE STORED IN SUSPENDED ANIMATION INSIDE OF IT, WHILE WE SURVEY AND EXPLORE THE REST OF THE SYSTEM. ALTERNATIVELY, WE COULD MEET FACE TO FACE AND CARRY OUT A PROPER FIRST CONTACT. OUR CIVILIZATIONS HAVE ONLY EVER HEARD OF EACH OTHER BY PROXY, SO ESTABLISHING FORMAL RELATIONS NOW THAT WE CAN WOULD BE APPROPRIATE.

THE CHOICE IS YOURS: REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU DECIDE, WE WILL NOT LEAVE THE SYSTEM UNTIL WE ARE DONE WITH THE SURVEY.



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Despite what many in the Star Empire would think, most, if not all alien ships that the Treecuu encountered actually were truthful about their intentions. Good or bad. And according to the sensor data presented to him, Vaac saw no immediate reason to not trust the aliens. Also, as a Remote Fleet ship captain, he was also an ambassador of the Star Empire. He thus responded the following.

“Mother of Discovery, no actions that could be interpreted as activating your offensive systems or any intrusive scans of the stasis ship will be tolerated and will face immediate sanction.”

Vaac’s tone changed from stern to something a lot warmer.

“I will however be honoured to accept your invitation to a face-to-face meeting to clear out any possible misunderstandings. Let us have that long overdue first contact.”

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WE ARE DELIGHTED TO HEAR THAT. WE WILL NOW SEND YOU THE TRAJECTORY DATA TO THE DESIGNATED HANGAR. IF OUR DATABASE IS CORRECT, YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS SHOULD MATCH THE ONES CURRENTLY PRESENT ON THIS SHIP. IF THAT HAPPENS TO NOT BE THE CASE, THE APPROPRIATE ENVIROSUITS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED TO ALL DIPLOMATIC ENVOYS UPON ARRIVAL. A DIPLOMAT WILL BE WAITING IN THE DESIGNATED HANGAR TO RECEIVE YOU, AND TO CARRY OUT DIPLOMATIC TALKS.



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Vaac had several options open to him. Many Treecuu captains preferred to bring an armed escort, but the civilian diplomats tended to go for the traditional display of self-confidence by going alone. He decided for the latter.

He opted for one of the small sub-light passenger shuttles. Inspired by stories from the Diplomatic Corps, he flew casually and approached the Mother at a seemingly reckless speed, only reducing speed and starting docking manouvres at the very last minute. He landed the shuttle in the designated area and disembarked, looking confident in his green navy dress. Then he waited for whoever was going to greet him.

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Tyledon Pentandra on eir levitator appendage. Four FlyerCrawlers, part of the group of symbiotic organisms that make up eir perception choir, can be seen flying around em.


While Vaac’s shuttle quickly approached the Mother Of Discovery Tyledon Pentandra, one of the diplomats aboard the exploration ship, made eir way down to the designated hangar.

Tyledon was a Maustralcant, a species of provolved trees member of the wider Mazur Clade. To achieve better mobility without having to install too many genemods, in eir childhood Tyledon fabricated a levitator appendage through a nanoforge that would be able to allow em maximum mobility while also providing a stored reserve of water and a source nutrients. obtained through the fixation of surrounding atmospheric nitrogen.

Levitating through the large corridors of the Mother, Tyledon entered the large hangar, and opened the exterior door. A thick Airwall made of semi-transparent’ utility fog separated the ship’s warm interior from the cold, irradiated void of outer space. As Vaac’s shuttle crossed the airwall and landed in the hangar, Tyledon straightened eir leaves and released eir choir of FlywerCrawlers, that buzzed in circle formation around in, like a halo of fluttering birds.

After the captain disembarked from his small vessel, Tyledon floated towards him, startling the Treecuu who had either not seem em, or thought ei were a weird decorative plant.

“Greetings Captain Vaac. My name is Tyledon Pentandra, the diplomat designated to receive you. It is an honor to have you aboard this ship. We hope our presence in this system wasn’t too much of an inconvenience for you and your fleet.”

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Vaac had expected a reception of the kind that the other Treecuu captains and diplomats had recounted. They were usually a grand display of infantry might and ancient traditions. This was abviously going to be something quite different. At first he though that they were still decorating the hangar for him, but as the tree spoke up, he could only raise a surprised brow at first.

“Greetings Tyledon Pentandra. The honour is mutual” he answered. He wasn’t sure if the Tyledon was simply a contraction used to communicate with him remotely or if it was indeed a sapient being. It would soon become clear he thought and there was no need to ask.

He slowly moved his arms so that his body assumed an arrow-like posture. A traditional Treecuu greeting.

“Your presence so far seems to be a welcome break from the pirates that seem to plague these neighbourhoods.”

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“We too have heard of the various semi-nomadic and quite aggressive populations that live within the Espanses. Luckily enough, only few of the nations within the territory are able to properly exist inside of the expanses, so we were expecting to encounter little to no “locals” at all. And we were quite right, I suppose. The Mother Of Discovery’s size and appearance most likely helped deter any possible attack as well.”

“Would you mind following me while we talk? I’ll escort you to an appropriate meeting room with the proper amenities and refreshments. We heard that you Limavuans quite enjoy tasting water, and after looking at your lingual papillae, it is not surprising at all. Anyways, we have already prepared a wide assortment of different waters with no chemical, nanorobotic or bionano additives.”

Tyledon’s holopad began moving forwards towards the large corridor on the other side of the hangar, eir perceptive choir still buzzing at a distance around Vaac in an impressive yet slightly disturbing stillness and uniformity.

“So, Captain. Does the Uumth-Aateec find the colony ships of your ancestors often, or have we perhaps encountered each other during a rare discovery?”

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“This is the first time we find a fully intact ship, and we are hopeful there might still be Teetacs in cryostasis onboard. This is a discovery of historical proportions.”

There was a hint of excitement despite his otherwise rather stern body language.

“The possibility to speak with someone who lived over two hundred thousand years ago is… quite something…”

Vaac wasn’t sure what the flying things were. Were they also sapient beings? Were they a hive mind? They seemed considerate enough, but that could change at any time.

“Tyledon, I have never encountered your kind before” Vaac began, choosing his words carefully as not to reveal he wasn’t sure whether he was talking to a machine or a sapient being. “I hope you do not mind me asking, are you and these four a unit?”

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“These creatures you see here are my FlyerCrawlers. There are more resting within special fissures in my main trunk, hidden by the leaves. They are little symbiotic creatures that all together make up my perception choir, allowing me to see and interact with the rest of the world. They are simply sentient, although their receptors are very developed.”

“To control them, I can move the many fine tendrils present on my leaves and trunk, that are able to generate a very large variety of sounds carrying an amount of information comparable to your current visual perception of reality, which allows me to make them perform very complex tasks. Alternatively, I can use a sort of “chemical programming” by having them consume a specialized sap released from my trunk that carries all the information they need. Although that’s just for when my choir members need to be too far away to properly relay information through sound.”

“If you don’t feel comfortable with them flying in front of you, I can make them stay on my branches.”

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“Fascinating… No, please let them continue doing what they are doing” answered Vaac.

He decided to change the subject.

“Have your voyages in these parts been trouble-free? Any encounters with pirates?”

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“Luckily for us, we have yet to encounter any hostile force in the Territories, but we are certainly more than ready to defend ourselves and strike back. However, we are planning on travelling further in the territories to retrieve genomic information from the spaceborne organisms that we have heard of. Would be a wonderful addition to our void-adapted fauna, as well as our spaceborne citizens.”

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“Then I hope you will not have to encounter them in the future.”

“Perhaps we could swap security information? We have sensor data on one of the pirate bands, and maybe you have mapped any dangers during your exploration of these parts?”

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“We plan on taking an unoccupied system in the Territories and turning it into a colony of the Empire, so we will be more than happy to share all observational and sensor array data we’ll gather once the proper arrays are built. However, we’d have no qualms about sharing what we have already gathered during this and other travels.”

“At the moment, we have several exploratory fleets similar to this one exploring the Lucent and Great Expanses. We’re also sending first contact delegations to the Sellexian Conglomerate and the Galree Technocracy. We’ll be sure to share any security data those fleets gather as well. If you wish of course.”

“Have the Treecuu also made contact with other civilizations in the Tiyanki Territories, or have your relationships been limited to encounters with hostile pirate fleets?”

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Vaac nodded as Tyledon spoke. He liked what he was hearing and it would be valuable information to pass along to his superiors.

“We are new to this expanse and have so far been unlucky with the natives…”

“Your planned annexation of an unoccupied planet… You do not expect any backlash from neighbouring civilisations here?”



Meanwhile in a Treecuu shuttle approaching the insectoid stasis ship.

Commander Ceet, insectoid and second in command of the RFS Acteel, shook her head as the large ancient vessel filled more and more of the view through the window. So close to making history, but no. Captain Vaac had to visit the aliens first and wouldn’t let anyone board the ship without him. Though it would of course add to his prestige and grow his ambitions. And she would probably have done the same had she been him. Inspecting the vessel from outside would simply have to do for now.

They hadn’t dared to run the most intrusive scans yet as they couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t disrupt the stasis ship’s ancient systems, or worse, trigger any potential traps left by the pirates.

Approaching the main hatch Ceet was shocked by what she saw. It had been breached, recently.



As Tyledon was answering Vaac’s question, Vaac received a priority message on his wrist device. He had to read it, seemingly rudely.

“Ceet: stasis ship breached. May need stabilisation. Recommend to board. Please advise.”

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“When I say “colony”, I’m not referring to a single planet, but an entire star system. We were even considering choosing this very star system for the colony. After all, a yellow dwarf with high metallicity is perfect for building dyson swarms and starlifting arrays.”

“Anyways, while we don’t really see why any of the neighbouring civilizations would have a problem with us establishing a colony here, - after all, it would be in unclaimed territory - but in the off chance that they do, we are more than prepared to defend ourselves. If I’m not mistaken, one of the first things to be built in the colony system would be a Moon Brain to house a Godling capable of defending the system properly, and directing the rest of the colonization operations. In any case, I will not participate in such decision, but I’ll be sure to keep you all updated on what ends up happening.”


“So tell me, Captain Vaac. While I am well aware that it probably won’t be much at all, I’m still curious to know: what do you already know about the Empire?”

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Vaac looked troubled by the message he had received. Situations like these called for his presence back on his ship which meant he would have to pause first contact. But maybe he could do both? Regulations did not allow him to partake in the stabilisation mission anyway. As he continued listening to Tyledon, he input a response to the message.

“Stabilise.”

The order meant that Commander Ceet was to board the stasis ship and secure it with force if necessary. Vaac almost smiled as he realised how good it would look in his report to Command that he completed two missions simultaneously.

He spoke up.

“Sorry, I do not mean to be rude. I will be receiving messages on this device with the utmost priority relating to the stasis ship, but I mean to continue our meeting.”

“Now, what I know about your Empire. I was unfortunately not briefed in detail since we did not expect to encounter you here, but I believe you are a diverse nation that have embraced genetic modification and forms of life that are normally not… allowed in other star nations. You are an old nation, and a peaceful one.”

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