Unknown Space
2202 PY
UES Victory CS-1985
“Captain! Our Jumpdrive is Down!”
“Send a repair crew to Engineering, I want Shields Up and Weapons on Standby.”
“Yes Sir!”
Captain Edward Rousteau, from New Spiras, is a seasoned Captain having Enlisted in 2183 and was a Career officer as they were called. Where the hell are we? he thought. This doesn’t look like Emeraldian Space.
“Captain, I’m Seeing something weird on Scanners, the signature isn’t Emeraldian, but the general Appearance looks Pacifican.”
“Just Keep Tight, and do we have contact with the other Six?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Good, Keep Me Updated”
17:45 shiptime, 18/02/1621 PD
HMS Veles
Carden System,
Thedryian Sector,
Stoinian Star Kingdom
“God dammit I should be out there fighting the Venterrans…”
Rear Admiral Vilmos Király whispered those words as a disgruntled middle aged officer that he was who was finally climbing up the command chain. He always enjoyed to remain in his ready room, but the current mission was more frustrating if anything. He had answered the Lion’s call back during the Velutarian War and once more during the First Mardakii Crusade. When news broke out of the Venterran incursion and the Battle of Cornucopia, he wanted to bring his entire flotilla with him to the frontline, but the 8th Armada in charge of operations in the Thedryian Sector were ordered to stand down. Király understood that the Venterrans could pop up anywhere as well, but his inner crusader was still very much frustrated with the orders. Right now, his 5th Flotilla of the 114th Fleet were to patrol the Carden system for now, a true Stoinian frontier world.
“Skipper, unidentified squadron has entered the system and is orbiting the second planet.” Spoke the Communications Lt. over the comms.
“What? Could they have slipped past us this far?” Király stormed out of his ready room as if on an automated route to his command chair. “Status!” He shouted as he marched unto the bridge.
“Planetary and ships sensors have confirmed a squadron’s worth of ships have entered the system, Skipper.” The Sensor Officer replied.
“Venterrans?” Király snorted at them.
“Unknown as of yet.”
“Yellow alert. Set an intercept course. Warp 1. Comms, tell Ivuit and Bearhound Squadrons to flank them on the bogey’s dorsal and ventral sides with an off set of 20 degrees. I want to be prepared for anything. Weapons, charge the MAC cannon as well.”
Within 20 seconds, the Flotilla of 38 ships jumped to warp with squadrons spread out. Their intention was to fire at the bogey from multiple sides once they were confirmed to be hostiles. A mere minute later, the Flotilla was in position. The Veles fired a first warning shot mere 500 km to the bogey’s starboard towards the desolate planet. While the bullet was barely visible to the unidentified ships, the trajectory could easily be calculated as the MAC round hit the planet creating a crater. Yet, because they were unidentified vessels, they were given a chance. Rascal… Noreiga… Király reminded himself of the problems that been ever so prevalent with first contact situations and how their standing protocols had created some serious political backlash. He decided to cool of the situation. Curiously, the ships hadn’t fired back, which meant they probably weren’t Venterran or a scout ship.
“Open all comm channels. Audiovisuals. This Rear Admiral Vilmos Király of the HMS Veles of the Stoinian Star Kingdom. In the name of His Majesty King Andrei III, I order to identify yourself immediately.”
The message was sent in all languages known the Stoinia, from Terran Drakari languages to Ryccian Kaminoan. Would this be a mistake or a new fortune?
Unknown Space
2202 PY
UES Victory CS-1985
The Entire ship shuttered as the mysterious round whizzed by, nearly hitting the Alliance.
“What the hell was that?!”
“Unknown Sir, but it was enough to cause a crater on the Planets Surface”
The Hail broadcasts over the Bridge
“The Hail, It was in Tarnian, Austral, and Something that sounds similar to Cimbrian”
“We send our own message: This Is Captain Edward Rousteu of the UES Victory of the Union Of Emerald. We do not wish for any harm between us, but we have some questions. Broadcast in Cimbrian, Austral, and Tarnian.”
“Yes Sir”
“What in God’s name?” Király whispered as they received the message in multiple languages.
Yet this could be an elaborate trap by Venterran Forces… But they wouldn’t have cracked so many of the Stoinian channel codes. Certainly not that many languages… Király wanted to know for certain, look for any inconsistencies on a direct channel.
“Open a direct channel. UES Victory state your intention into Stoinian territory immediately before I consider you Venterran target practice.”
Unknown Space
2202 PY
UES Victory CS-1985
“This may sound iffy, but we honestly don’t why we are here. But I will let you know that we are not here to battle. Also, what in the hell is Venterran?”
The Main Engineer arrives on the Bridge.
“Sir, It appears that our Jump Crystal is cracked and isn’t allowing us to Jump.”
“Contact the other ships, see if they have the same issues”
“Yes Sir”
They didn’t know how they got here? Peculiar… Király was still cautious about this whole situation. Protocol called for first contact protocols, but the situation now was entirely different than what those protocols were meant for. Right now he had to improvise and take a risk.
“Very well… We will discuss this in person. Navigation, send them vectors for hangar bay 2. I’ll expect you there in 20 minutes.”
“Skipper, do you want an impromptu ceremonial guard there?” Commander Jengo Styn asked.
“Aye, a squad of Marines should do. Prepare the speakers as well to play the anthem.” Király replied dryly.
When the Emeraldan shuttle landed in hangar bay 2, they were greeted by 8 Stoinian Marines on each side with guns in hand. As Király stood on the other side of them and supervised the whole ceremony. When the shuttle’s door hissed open and the Emeraldan delegation exited, Király ordered with a hand signal to play the Stoinian anthem. The trumpets soared as the Marines joined in with the choir singing about the bravery of the Stoinian Lion and its roar. When it ended, Király shouted and the Marines responded.
“Hail to Mankind.”
“URAAAA!”
“Hail to Star Kingdom!”
“URAAAA!”
“Hail to the King!”
“URAAAA!”
Then the Emeraldan entourage could step forward between the Marines in dress uniforms who maintained a most professional stance with a high chin and broad shoulders. Finally Király gave his hand to Captain Rousteu and applied more than enough pressure to it.
“Welcome aboard the Veles. I must say you’ve taken a most unfortunate time to make contact with us.”
UES Victory
“I’ll see you there”
Rousteau and his Diplomatic team made their way aft to the Hanger Bay and Boarded the Shuttle UESH Ocean. The Shuttle landed in the Veles’s Hanger Bay. After the “Ceremony”, the Captain and his entourage walked up to Veles’ Captain.
“Greetings, may I ask why this is an unfortunate time for our unintended contact?”
HMS Veles
“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss all matters with you just yet. Before we go any further, I’m going to ask you to please hit this bullet-proof shield.”
A Marine came up from behind Király and took point to take a full blow from Captain Rousteu. While it might seem absurd, this was the only real proof Király would be satisfied to check if they weren’t Venterran. So far, High Command had determined the Venterrans possessed above average strength than Terrans. So much had been allowed to be passed down the command chain as the biological details were still a highly kept secret. A necessary precautionary measure that even Rear Admiral Király wasn’t aware of.
“I know how ridiculous this might look, but I need proof you are indeed Terran and not Venterran. As of our current situation this is the only way I see to determine just that.”
“This is Ridiculous but okay.”
Edward punched the shield as hard as he could and then started shaking his hand everywhere as the pain set in. He yelled curse words in every language he knew(Cimbrian, Tarnian, and Ludvillian)
“Fanden! La dracu! Mue eg Cinvh!”
He held his hand in pain.
“I sure hope there was a good reason for that”
Király couldn’t help but smile when Captain Rousteu cursed after punching the bullet-proof shield. He nodded his head at the Marine who held the shield as a sign of dismissal. The Marine took point again and Király continued.
“I’m glad your reaction is quite a Terran one. Now please follow me to a more accessible room. I’ll explain the precautions on the way”
He turned around and signaled the two Marine to follow him as Commander Styn took charge over the Marine Honour Guard. As the Emeraldian delegation followed Király, they strolled through the hexagonal hallways that marked Stoinian military shipbuilding.
“You’ve picked quite a bad time to visit the star nation. We’re currently at war with another Terran star nation and the only discrepancy between us is that they possess super-strength. Their tenacity matches our own. However past first contact incursions like your own have also garnered the reputation for being a dangerous affair. Both the sleeping Ryccian & Drakari giants have been quite tense situations. Frankly, you’re lucky you didn’t end up in the middle of the hot zone. Do you have any theories as to how you may have gotten here?”
“My Chief Engineer gave me the report of our artificially produced Jump Crystal was cracked while while we were in Jumpspace, potentially being the reason for why we are here. Also, may I ask what a Drakari is? I’ve heard some scattered communiques about a first contact event with Ryccia.”
Edward looked around at the hexagonal hallways and pondered why they were shaped as such, and then realized something. Stoinia, that name, its an old Pacifican Nation, but this Stoinia didn’t sound like the vast historical data of Stoinia, it being one of very few old Pacifican nations that have a vast amount of data concerning culture and history.
“May I, again, ask, where did your Star Nation come from? You called me a Terran, but Emeraldians refer to our species as Pacifican, named after our old homeworld, Pacifica, so what is a Terran?”
Király rolled his eye when he heard about another jump drive. Whatever experimental FTL methods these star nations were trying to get working, they clearly should have tested them better.
“I’ll show you our data on the current civilizations we’re aware of in this Sector. We’re not far from the meeting room, we have a full display system there.”
Király then listened carefully to Captain Edward’s question and was more confused than before. He raised an eyebrow, looking quite inquisitively.
“Pacifica?” He asked with a slight sneer. “I think your history records must have been tampered with. All Terrans or humans come from Terra or as the Ryccians call it Earth. If I recall correctly Pacifica was a mere ocean on Terra our ancestral homeworld. We left to the stars to preserve Mankind and have upheld our Terran legacy ever since.”
The military entourage then arrived in the meeting room with Király taking a seat at the head of the table.
“Please Captain Edwards, take a seat.”
Edward sat down, his face invoking very clear confusion.
“Terra? No, Our History records couldn’t have been tampered with.”
One of the Emeraldian diplomats take out a holopad. Edward pushes a button that shows a hologram of Pacifica.
“That is Pacifica, and my people came from there.”
He points to the South Pacific Region. He pushes another button that highlights the political boundaries of Emerald, Spiras, Denver, and New Colradia.
“But the name of your Star Nation is what intrigue’s me the most.”
Another button push highlights Stoinia, while also showing details and facts, including the Flag, CoA, Leader, Brief History, and Connection to the Denvari Nations.
“That is the Kingdom Of Stoinia or Regatul Stoiniei in Tarnian. Sometime during Antiquity on Pacifica, the land that would become Spiras was colonized by the Proto-Stoinians, the Tolosan Republic. Later, Stoinia would become one of the Denvari Nations closest ally. That is the Stoinia I know, hell, my great-great-great grandfather was a Stoinian. Does this match your history records?”
He shuts off the holo-projection.
“Now, weren’t you gonna show us the civilizations you know of?”
Király was a bit surprised to see the widespread accessibility of holograms in the Emerladian Navy. Sure the technology was new to the Stoinians, but the Veles was not a list of high priority ships to have been retrofitted with the technology. Király himself wasn’t convinced on the touchless nature of such technology. Nonetheless Király was perplexed at this seemingly fake history.
“That doesn’t match our history at all. We Stoinians haven’t earned the name in antiquity, but by being reforged in the War at Home against the Mardakii. This Kingdom of Stoinia only exists for roughly 330 years ago on the planet Stoinia. However, we aren’t professors of history. I’m sure ours will be thrilled to have a new party to debate against the Ryccians.”
Király then activated the viewscreen on the table, showing the map with all known space-faring civilizations.
“To the north we have the Drakari Celestial Imperium. They are the oldest modern civilization we know of, driven by the Great Stewardship, holding all life as sacred. Bordering them we have the Ryccian Empire. Another Terran dominant star nation. In the middle we have a scattered smaller nations within the Tiyanki Territories and their lawlessness is bordered by another such region we call the Badlands. To their south we have our Treecuu allies and ourselves. Though we know of one space faring civilization as well known as the Zelvan Regime which views slavery as their divine right. Quite a bunch we have here. Do you have any idea where exactly you might be located?”
The map of course was relatively vague with the Stoinian & Treecuu sections only showing their borders and not even their capital. One could never be too cautious with a new civilization. Even if they appeared to be Terrans. It was to be seen whether these “Pacificans” were to be considered as such.
“That is quite the bunch indeed, hmm…”
Edward scanned over the map, until he found a similar shape with the Drakari’s western border.
“There! That’s where Emerald is located!”
Edward points at the area west of the Drakari. He push a button on the holopad that shows the Borders of the Union.
“Its a perfect match, look, the eastern border of Emerald perfectly lines up with the western border of the Drakari”
Edward took notice of Kiralys odd expression after he partially discussed Pacificas Stoinias history.
“You seem like you don’t think Emeralds History Records are legit, If we need to prove it to you, our historians can work together to see if our histories are aligned or Stoinias Terrans are actually from a different planet. Now, can we talk about what exactly these Venterrans are? You always brush them aside when I mention them.”