And Down Came The Helping Hand (Galactya - Alvira First Contact)

Galaxiel · December 15, 2023, 5:59pm

09/04/6002
2 ABT

189 Light Years from the Ferristian Border
Star System RS 8513

The “Novalight Sailor” was a Fractaldigm Class armed exploration vessel that had been chosen for one of the many exploratory missions that the Empire had recently decided to initiate, in a new quest to chart and explore the stars. It sported one of the recently incented RGW Drives with Rainbowspace access, that were quickly but progressively replacing the old Drives that only had access to Realspace travel.

The Novalight, as with most Galactyan ships, was truly massive in size compared to most foreign vessels: 10 kilometers from front to back, this explorer would be considered a truly enormous capital ship almost anywhere else in Sector A1-0. The design of the Novalight was extremely weird too, a self-repeating fractal in an elongated pyramidal structure, born as a result of ancient Galactyan engineering that was now being re-proposed as a simple callback to the oldest ages.

The ship, despite being used for exploration, was still armed with a notable arsenal, and the hundreds of smaller exploratory vessels it carried in it’s hangars could also be used in battles. This was because the Novalight would venture out into uncharted, possibly colonized territories, and if there was one thing Galactyans knew, is that first contacts can very easily take a turn for the worst. Therefore, making the ship ready to fight in case of a fire exchange was the best policy that could be taken by the Empire.

Due to the same reason, the Novalight and the other ships in the new wave of exploration had also been equipped with a series of Universal Translators that formed a sort of “circuit”. These, coupled with a series of frequency interceptors, would run the intercepted data inside the circuit of universal translators, streamlining and immensely shortening the process of communications by allowing the translators to reach full functioning in seconds.

Space warped as the brane of reality itself was torn open, a large circular portal slightly lighter than the Novalight Sailor appearing on the outermost edge of the new star system, thousands of AUs out from the primary star.

The rim of the portal refracted colorful rays of light, as a bright tunnel of colorful hyper-hot hydrogen swirled around the ship’s dissolving magnetic funnel. Some smaller clouds of hydrogen passed through the portal, turning from brightly prismatic to glowing yellow/white as they passed through from one reality to the other.

As soon as the ship had fully exited the circular portal it quickly closed, the connection established between the two realities interrupted.

“What’s our analysis on the system?”

“M0.5 Red Dwarf star system with a total of 10 major celestial bodies in orbit. There are 5 rocky planets and 5 gaseous ones, equally distributed between the inner and outer system. Only the fourth planet, RS 8513-4, a MesoazuriNeptunian CarboTelluric GeliJotunnian AquaMuspellian Lowergiant with an extensive system of minor moons, has standard temperatures. There is also an asteroid belt located between 3.7 and 14.2 Astronomical Units.”

“I see. We should probably concentrate our exploration probes and ships on RS 8513-4 as a target for the potential development of native biotic life.”

“Should we also scan for signs of a xenosapient civilization?”

“The Eidoboros array didn’t show any signs of macrobiotic life, much less a developing or spacefaring civilization. But yes, it’s best to be careful. Perform a system wide scan. Even if we don’t find anything active we might stumble on some wrecks or ruins.”

“On it Captain. Activating all superluminal emission scanners.”

“In the meantime, activate the RGW Drive and head towards the primary red dwarf. We’ll start the data gathering from there. Ready 100 solar scoopdrop probes to be dropped inside the photosphere from low orbit and descend down into the convective zone. We should also deploy some orbital-”

“Uhhh, Captain?”

“Yes?”

“I’m picking up signs of several orbital structures, moving ships and complex transmission signals.”

“Uh. Well then guys, it seems as though we hit an early jackpot! Let’s not be too hasty though, we don’t know if they’ll be peaceful or not. Activate all shields and prepare our point-defense arsenal for action. Just in case.”

“Roger that, Captain. All shields are up, and all particle beam point-defense cannons are ready for combat.”

“Wonderful. Well then, start intercepting their communications, activate the universal translators and let’s get moving. Head towards the biggest of the orbital structures, and be ready to send a message.”

“Yes Captain.”
“On it Captain.”

Rivers · December 28, 2023, 10:23am

2 ABT
System IV-0519 “Perel” Frontier Outpost Station “Rand”

“What’s that, Jonah? I’m trying to write a report here,” the Lieutenant Commander complained as he entered the main control room. Sound of beeping alarms filled the room, deafening the ears as the five officers in the control room were rushing to action in each of their posts.

“Our deep space scanner detected an enormous power surge within the system, Sir, we don’t think it came from any of the terrestrial or planetary bodies,” said the first officer. “All of our unmanned orbital hardwares also detected the energy surge.”

“There’s now a large object accelerating towards us. By its size, we think it’s an asteroid or a comet, Sir,” added the second officer.

“I don’t think it’s either an asteroid or a comet sir. This thing kept accelerating towards us without the necessary gravitational pull,” the third officer spoke while openly scowling at the second one.

“Then what is it, Erica? A raider ship that’s 10 kilometres long?” asked the second officer with an insulting tone. “Ships can go beyond hundreds of metres, you know, some of my immigrant neighbours told me that back from where they came, ships could reach thousands of metres in size,” said the fourth officer, the only Valtoran out of the five, while standing near the third. “Don’t tell me you believe those aliens. They’ll tell you anything to get so-”

“That’s enough, all of you!” the Lieutenant Commander cut off the second officer. “Michel, could the station’s tractor beam change the course of that thing, whatever it is, so it didn’t collide with us?”

The fifth officer shook his head “We can’t sir, it’s too massive. We need to do an evasive manoeuvre to get out from that object’s trajectory,”

The Lieutenant Commander nodded to the second officer, who quickly turned to his controls. “We’ll going Northside of the planet, Sir, how many kilometres do we need?”

“Not much, just 30 kilometres would suffice, if we want to still see the object up close,” the fifth officer responded.

The station vibrated as it moved from its original orbital trajectory around the planet. “Yup, that should be enough,” stated the fifth officer as the station halted to a new orbit. “I forgot to warn the kitchen. I hope they don’t break anything down there,” the third officer commented.

The Lieutenant Commander nodded with satisfaction “I’m going back to my office. See to it tha-”

“Sir, the object is changing its trajectory towards our current position!” the first officer shouted. The Lieutenant rushed to the side of the first officer and observed the screen. “How long would it get here?”

“Considering that it’s accelerating, it might be only a couple hours, sir,” the third officer answered.

“Sir, one of the nearest hardware detected that the object is encased in an energy field, more powerful than a navy-grade deflector field,” the fourth officer reported with a concerned look.

“Can we do an evasive manoeuvre beyond this side of the planet?”

“No sir, we don’t have enough fuel to sustain prolonged manoeuvre,” answered the second officer.

The Lieutenant hesitated for a moment with a disturbed face, but quickly recovered. “Contact Commander Paulson and van Moor, their patrol fleets are just light hours from here. Contact Admiral Jon’ra as well! Place the station under emergency, and pull up the deflector shield at maximum.”

“Sir, what do I say to Admiral Jon’ra?” the fifth officer asked as the other officers scrambled back to their posts. “Give him the readings, and tell him that a 10-kilometre ship with a powerful deflector shield is nearing us. We’ll need all your ships here, as quickly as you can.”

Galaxiel · December 28, 2023, 9:05pm

“We’re 10 Astronomical Units from RS 8513-4 and the targeted orbital structure captain.”

“Good, good. Process on the universal translators?”

“They’re done captain, even though they didn’t have to do much work at all!”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, the translators actually already had the language they are speaking in their database. It’s a terran language, one coming from Old Terra, specifically hailing from Southern Africa. It’s called Afrikaans. If I’m not wrong, it’s present on some NeoTerran worlds and habitats. We should already have it installed in our DNIs.”

“Mh… interesting. Another human nation, perhaps. If that’s the case, we might as well consider us either lucky or unlucky. Let’s hope they’re more like the Ryccians or the Emeraldians then.”

“Captain, I’m detecting a shield signature being raised around the orbital station. They have clearly detected us as well. They are also sending a series of emergency messages to other clusters of objects in the system, most likely military grade attack and defense ships. It might be wise to send a communication of peace immediately, lest we want to face an armed exchange.”

“Yes, that would be the best strategy. Aellir, send a translated message to the orbital station, stating our peaceful intentions. In the meantime, Kaoleion, activated the RGW Drive in Realspace mode and warp us to our destination. Let’s cut the journey from hours to 2 seconds. We don’t want to give them time to unnecessarily accumulate their forces and decide to attack.”

"On it captain. The ringularity is completely generated… aaaaand we’re here.

In little over two seconds, the Novalight travelled the 10 Astronomical Units separating it from it’s destination, and appeared in front of the orbital station, eclipsing it in size.

“Ah, let’s see… Uh, nifty orbital station, isn’t it? Anyways, ready with the message Aellir?”

“Yes captain, ready to transmit.”

“Send it through then!”

THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM THE NOVALIGHT SAILOR, AN EXPLORATION VESSEL OF THE GALACTYAN EMPIRE. WE ARE SORRY FOR TRESPASSING INTO YOUR TERRITORY, BUT WE COME HERE IN PEACE, AND HAVE NO HOSTILE INTENTION. IF YOU ARE CAPABLE OF DOING SO, PLEASE RESPOND.

Rivers · December 31, 2023, 10:00am

“Galactyan?” said the Lieutenant Commander with a confused expression after reading the signals decrypted by the fifth officer’s interface. “Immigrants told us about a very ancient empire called Galactya somewhere deep in space. They said these people are quite agreeable if their information could be believed,” the fourth officer explained.

“Any information about Galactya in the database, Erica?” asked the Lieutenant.

The third officer checked through her interface with haste. She then shook her head with disappointment. “It only confirms Nais’ru’s explanation. The Central Archive only knew them as an ancient empire, rumoured to be located beyond the Ferristians and the Zelvans territories.”

“And how come they knew our language?” the first officers asked. “How do we know that they aren’t some Alviran pirates?”

“Some of the human immigrants that we received from beyond the frontiers have several words that are similar to our own. Several experts back home theorised that us Alvirans don’t originate from here. These Galactyans could be humans from wherever we came from,” the third officer answered with excitement. The Lieutenant gave a concerned look. “I don’t think pirates could gain access to whatever technology that could give thrust to a ship that massive.”

“If it’s true that they came in peace, we shouldn’t be too worried about them,” added the fourth officer. The second officer shook his head. “That’s how commercial transports got raided by pirates, Nais’ru, they try to make you feel safe. But I concur, this is a new thing that we’re facing here.”

The Lieutenant Commander hesitated for several moments, before he sighed. “Tell Admiral Jon’ra, Commanders Paulson and van Moor about this message. The patrol fleets would have arrived here before those Galactyan with emergency hyperdrives. I’ll let them deal with whatever this is,” the Lieutenant decided.

The third and fourth officers showed a visibly distraught face. “Sir, if we could have a conversation with them, we can have more information about what they are and what are their intentions,” the third officer protested. The second officer nodded in agreement. “The more information we got the better, Sir.”

“Sir, should we respond to their message?” asked the fifth officer.

“Tell them that we received their message, but we will remain cautious until my superiors come. This is beyond my responsibility,” the Lieutenant Commander answered, before leaving the officers behind in the control room.

“He’s just being cautious. He’s already planning to retire next standard year from now,” the first officer spoke after the Lieutenant left. “I hope either Commander Paulson or van Moor would be more adept on dealing with this kind of situation,” the fifth officer commented as he returned to his post.

Galaxiel · December 31, 2023, 1:20pm

“Good. Better cautious than aggressive. Send them another message, and tell them that we will wait here, in front of the station.”

“On it Captain. Sending another message.”

WE'RE GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED OUR MESSAGE. WE WILL WAIT FOR THE ARRIVAL OF YOUR SUPERIORS IN FRONT OF THE STATION. WE HOPE WE WILL BE ABLE TO HOLD A PROPER DIPLOMATIC DISCUSSION ONCE THEY ARRIVE.

“Their superiors are definitely coming. I have detected dozen of ship signatures moving towards our location. They all seem to be quite slow and small ships. Perhaps they aren’t that much advanced.”

“Are they armed?”

“Yes, but their weaponry doesn’t appear to be much powerful. Besides, I doubt they’d want to take on something like this ship when they are all much smaller than 500 meters.”

“I doubt we’ll have any problem, but stay focused and cautious. We might just never know.”

Rivers · January 3, 2024, 1:25am

“Look at that thing! Paulson, do you see it?” Commander van Moor’s voice was heard through the hypercom.

“Yup, that’s huge!” Commander Paulson responded. The two patrol fleets just escaped their emergency hyperdrive near a planet; a very dangerous manoeuvre, but after seeing the massive ship that now faced the station, it seemed proper for this situation. Each fleet consisted of a Saffier-Class Frontier Carrier Cruiser and 8 Robyn-Class Independent Fighters that formed a perimeter around each cruisers.

“All fighters, create a defensive perimeter around the outpost station! Don’t make aggressive posture, we are here acting as diplomats. Trenmore, dock our ship to the station,” ordered Commander Paulson.

The two cruisers manoeuvred to the docking hatches of the outpost station, while sixteen Fighters formed a ring around the station and the docking ships.

“Remain alert, intercept any communications or signals that they emit,” ordered Commander Paulson as he leaves the bridge of the ship.

“Commander Paulson, sir!” greeted the Station Lieutenant, an old wrinkly man, might be the same age of Commander van Moor, twenty years older than Commander Paulson. “Commander van Moor,” the Lieutenant greeted van Moor that emerged from the opposite side of the docking bay.

“Have you executed First Contact Protocols, lieutenant? I thought this can go on without us being here when you told us that they know our Standard Language,” Commander van Moor asked as he approached the Lieutenant.

“I haven’t, sir, I thought this is beyond my jurisdiction,” the Lieutenant answered. “Well, you could at least interrogate them while waiting for us, giving us clearer pictures of what we’re dealing with,” Commander van Moor continued. “This way to the control room, sirs,” the Lieutenant showed the two Commanders to the control room where five officers were already standing in attention.

“At ease,” ordered Commander Paulson. “Who is the Hypercom Officer here?”

“I am, sir,” said the rightmost officer. Commander Paulson approached the officer, and gesture him to sit down.

“Sent this message to them: we are now executing First Contact Protocol, Defense Protocol MMCCL/1399/001. As a gesture of good will, and to ease tension, we will lower our arms and deflector shield magnitude, and we expect you to do the same. We invite you to have a direct video dialogue, as we feared our docking stations and yours are not equipped to receive each other’s ships,” stated Commander Paulson as he read out of his wrist interface.

“Is it safe to lower our defence, sir?” asked the Hypercom officer. “Well, we have to start somewhere. This protocol worked good enough the last time it was used, fifty years ago,” answered Commander Paulson. The officer nodded and pressed the broadcast button.

“Lower the alert level! All fighters, disable your automatic targeting!” ordered Commander van Moor through his wrist interface. “Lower the deflector shield level to magnitude 6, please.”

“Oh, give an update to Admiral Jon’ra that we are executing First Contact Protocol here, so if he made it here, I recommend him to lower his fleet’s alert level. Compliments from Commanders Paulson and van Moor,” added Commander Paulson.

Galaxiel · February 7, 2024, 4:07pm

IF OUR SCANS ARE CORRECT, OUR HANGARS ARE OUTFITTED FOR YOUR SHIP CONFIGURATIONS AND SIZES, AND OUR INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT IS ALREADY 100% COMPATIBLE FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL: THEREFORE, VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS WON'T BE NECESSARY. THAT BEING SAID, WE WILL LOWER OUR EXTERNAL ANTIMATTER SHIELD TO COMPLY WITH YOUR REQUEST, AS WELL AS TURNING OFF OUR TARGETING ARRAYS.

WE ARE GOING TO SEND YOU THE TRAJECTORY DIRECTIONS TO THE RECEIVING HANGAR, WHERE OUR DIPLOMAT WILL BE WAITING TO RECEIVE YOU.

Rivers · March 2, 2024, 11:07am

“What’s the status, Trenmore?” asked Commander Paulson as he re-entered his Cruiser. Commander van Moor remained in the Outpost Station to keep an eye on things and to maintain communications with Admiral Jon’ra. Commander Paulson brought Officer Nais’ru with him, the Valtoran crew of the Outpost Station. The Valtoran looked very concerned and shaky.

“We’re steady, sir. Shield and weapons lowered, but on high alert,” Lieutenant Trenmore answered.

“As if we can make a dent on a ship that size,” rebuked Commander Paulson. “Is First Contact Protocol appropriate, Sir? We can wait for Admiral Jon’ra and his fleet and let them decide,” Officer Nais’ru asked with notable fear on her voice.

“If they have malicious intent, they would’ve attacked and ransacked everything we have in under a minute, and no one would notice. Moreover, if things got somewhere here, we would be remembered in the history records, Nais’ru! The first Alvirans and Valtorans to shook hands with… whatever they are.” encouraged Commander Paulson. “We don’t even know they have hands, Sir,” Nais’ru answered. The three reached the Cruiser’s bridge and all of the crew members were at attention. “Case in point. Trenmore, send them the message that we’re leaving to their designated coordinates!”

Sound of the Ship’s docking bays releasing reverberated throughout the bridge. “Sir?” Trenmore looked at Commander Paulson one more time. “Go!” the Commander ordered.