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[King Zultan]

PTW

[forsaken1111]

2212.11.07
SSV Von Braun, commanded by Cpt. Krutov, has reported discovery of a planetoid in the Nomotar system which shows possible signs of artificial tampering. Specifically it seems that the planet, at some time in its distant past, was transformed by technological means from an icy body into a life-bearing world. While this period of habitability has passed and the planet has lapsed back into an icy hellscape, the technology used to bring about this state could bear fruit for re-terraforming our own homeworld. A science team has been dispatched to study the site in greater detail.

2212.11.23
A civilian transport exploded mysteriously on approach to one of the outer habitats today. Traffic control is currently scrambling to clear all flight lanes impacted by the debris cloud. Speculation is running rampant, from sabotage to neglectful maintenance, but there are no concrete facts as of yet. The transport is registered to Dr. Sylveste, a noted scientist within the field of artificial intelligence. The transport was empty at the time, flying on remote and en-route to pick up the Doctor's family. It is fortunate that no-one was aboard.

2212.12.15

||| Live Broadcast |||
Origin: SSV Von Braun
Registry: S-0012

Von Braun: "Command this is Von Braun actual. We have just exited jump in stellar IA313, code name Carynno system. Initial optical sweep completed, three anomalies flagged for inspection. Analytics engine has tagged anomaly 3 (registry IA313-971) as fast mover, probable spacecraft. Please advise."

Survey HQ: "Roger Von Braun, stand by"

SHQ: "Von Braun proceed with procedure 9-3, first contact protocol."

VB: "Roger command. Sensors registering high levels of organics, no obvious means of propulsion. Object spectrographic analysis… it's mostly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen. Command, it reads like a life form, but it's in deep space. Sending message code 9-3a."

VB transmits: "We are the Children of the Sun and we greet you in peace. Please respond."

--message repeats in 18 other languages, cycling. Each broadcast is followed by tones representing the first 13 prime numbers and a short selection of mathematical proofs--

VB: "No response on any frequency. 971 is moving away, continuing on the course and speed it was first sighted on."

SHQ: "Resume survey of the system but maintain readiness, keep the object under observation. If it exits the system do not follow, such an action could be construed as hostile."

News of alien ships being sighted have reached Refuge.

In some ways this ends the first chapter in the book of the Children of the Sun's exploration of space . No longer are we alone. No longer are we a single spark in the night. An emergency measure was passed overnight to redouble funding of our exploration program and Lochburn has begun work on a new survey vessel already. The 'net is humming with the news. We have concrete proof that alien life exists in the galaxy. Not just ancient haunted ruins and remnants, but living aliens!

A team of scientists have already assembled to study the sighting and all data relayed back by Von Braun. So far the aliens have been given the code name Manticores, until such time as we know their true names.

2213.03.07
Not to be outdone, SSV Sojourner reports sighting of an obviously artificial structure in space on emergence into the Majek system. Unlike previously encountered ruins, this structure seems to be active and started broadcasting at Sojourner the minute it arrived in system. The broadcasted data seems to be a signalling protocol and some sort of lexicon, perhaps a means to communicate? The SETI team is being expanded to study these new signals.

2213.04.02
SSV Tereshkova has been launched from Lochburn station, commanded by Captain Shi Zhu. Tereshkova's primary mission will be to follow an unexplored branch of the hypernet structure that seems to pervade the galaxy.

2213.06.05
For so long, Mars has been a dream of mankind. To colonize the red planet, to become a multiplanetary civilization. Today that dream becomes a reality. An initiative was signed today which will bring humankind to Mars. We will make a home there among the cold dunes of the red deserts and perhaps someday make Mars into the paradise our Old Earth once was. It will not be easy, but when has difficulty ever stopped the human race?

2213.11.11
SSV Sojourner reports signals received which match those of the Ulysses initiative's arks as it entered the Homam system. The signals are localized to Homam 3, and Sojourner is moving in to conduct a search.

2214.01.25
While the SETI team has been pouring over the lexicon and signalling protocols sent from the object in Magek, they are surprised to receive a new transmission in English! The aliens appear to have successfully decoded our own protocols and language far faster than we are capable of. Message reads:

"This is a joyous occasion! I am Headmaster Monak Nik of the Artisan Troupe. We are a multispecies alliance of creators dedicated to the pursuits of art, music, and culture. If you wish to share in the wonder of our creations please do not hesitate to contact us!"

That… is not what we expected. However, they seem very friendly and most welcoming.

Spoiler: An image was broadcast with the transmission (click to show/hide)

2214.01.27
Presiding Speaker Mikhail Markov has announced the establishment of a new political body, the Committee of Higher Learning. The Committee is made up of top scientists from all over Refuge and is dedicated to the advancement of the sciences within the human race with a long term goal of securing humanity's future, in this solar system and beyond. Their first focus will be terraformation technologies which may be used to return Old Earth to a livable state within the next few centuries.

[forsaken1111]

2214.05.09
Analysis of the data from the fast moving objects at Carynno have revealed that they are indeed some kind of spaceborne life form. While this defies our understanding of xenobiology, these beings clearly exist. Analysis of their behavior indicates they are likely no more intelligent than a whale or other large mammal, if even that. Still, such a wonder. Life among the stars! Our xenobologists have taken to calling them Carynids, after the system they were first seen in.

2214.06.13
Lochburn has finalized construction of the SSV Macau. This cavernous vessel will take hundreds of thousands of brave pioneers to establish a colony on Mars.

2214.07.20
Following an 8 month process of exhaustive searching and data analytics, SSV Sojourner reports they have discovered the ultimate fate of the USS Persea. The Persea was a Ulysses arc intended to land on Homam III, which the colonists called "Elpis". Unfortunately something the colonists did, it is not clear what, upset some of the local fauna on the planet. The world is home to several species of titan-scale creatures, similar in size to Old Earth dinosaurs. Whatever happened, these creatures suddenly began attacking the colony relentlessly until its destruction. Having dismantled most of the ship on landing, they were unable to flee. At this point it is unlikely there are any survivors.

This is a tremendous loss. Elpis is a beautiful world of bioluminescence. High levels of exotic particulate within the atmosphere mean that very little natural sunlight reaches the surface. The plant and animal life have evolved a natural bioluminescence to operate in this semi-darkened environment. During the day the lighting conditions are comparable to a pre-dawn light level on Earth. At night all one can see is glowing plant and animal life. Sojourner sent back a still image captured from a lander probe.

Spoiler: Homam III (Elpis) (click to show/hide)

2214.08.23
Two new factions have formed in response to recent events.

The Full Enfranchisement Foundation, led by Captain Mikhail Antonov, is dedicated to ensuring we do not make the same mistakes that led to the destruction of Old Earth. FEF members work for absolute equality within Refuge and beyond. They believe that all humans are born equal, and will fight favoritism in any form.

The Xeno Rights Initiative have also announced their formation. Led by Governor Guy Moreau, the XRI are primarily interested in peaceful and fruitful relations with the alien races of the galaxy, with the stated goal of alien membership in our nation and equal citizenship for any alien who wishes it.

2214.10.16
Captain Antonov reports that he has isolated the downfall of the colonists on Elpis. An industrial solvent, used quite commonly in the Ulysses era ships, causes intense pain and eventually madness in the local lifeforms on the planet. This solvent is quite harmless to earth-based life and is considered safe to dump but the colonists failed to take into account the alien biology at work on Elpis. Captain Antonov believes that, should we wish it, we could inhabit Elpis with no further problems from the creatures living there. Provided that we take proper precautions. of course.

[Mephansteras]

Momentous occasions! The future is looking brighter already.

[EuchreJack]

Groan, not Artisans...

[forsaken1111]

2215.06.08
Captain Krutov of the SSV Von Braun has located what appears to be a defunct and derelict orbital construction around Carynno IIa, a small dwarf planetoid orbiting Carynno II. The structure appears to have once been a shipyard of some sort. Radiometric and TE dating place the structure at well over 1000 years old, and carbon scoring on some parts of the structure suggest that it was subjected to a heavy barrage by some sort of missile weapon.

Captain Krutov recommends a follow-up investigation by a dedicated construction team to see if there are any salvageable materials or technologies.

Spoiler: Carynno IIa (click to show/hide)

A distant view of the moon. The shipyard structure is too small to see at this distance.

2215.08.18
SSV Orinoco, a newly built deep space construction vessel, has just cleared the Lochburn yards and is en-route to the site at Carynno IIa. Transit time is estimated at 428 days.

2215.10.04
The Von Braun has reported in. It has emerged from hyperspace in the Durascadon system and its analytics engine reports signals corresponding to a Ulysses-era communications protocol. Captain Krutov is now searching the system to localize the source.

[Redacted]
/// Classified / EYES ONLY ///
A: Site 12 proceeding on schedule.
A: Situ reactor in place and online, output nominal.
A: Request additional personnel.

B: Denied.
B: Reallocation of existing personnel to technical operation advised.

A: Understood.
/// Classified / EYES ONLY ///

2216.05.01
SSV Von Braun has successfully located the remains of the Ulysses ark Impatien. It seems that the ship suffered a cataclysmic failure during FTL and disintegrated on arrival. The old style Ulysses-era drives were prone to computational and navigational anomalies of all kinds, so this was bound to happen to a few of the arks. The ark must have been far off course, no habitable planets have been found in this system.

2216.12.30
Guy Moreau of the XRI has issued a statement calling for the extension of human space. Thus far COS expansion has covered only those stars relatively close to Sol but the XRI have proposed that we now build supply stations out to Majek and Homam with the eventual goal of incorporating the Curators and resettling the world of Elpis. These being the only two (known) sources of alien life, the XRI have a keen interest in establishing a human presence at both sites and studying them.

Spoiler: Guy Moreau (click to show/hide)

2217.01.08
SSV Von Braun has made a startling discovery within the Durascadon system while sweeping for any other traces of the Impatien, a semi-operational ship in orbit of a small icy body which the survey catalog had tagged GF53-845. The vessel responded to the Von Braun's sensor sweep by activating its transponder. After some analytics it would appear the thing is broadcasting binary information in an old form of ASCII. How this is possible is a mystery, possibly it scavenged the protocol from the wreck of the Impatien. Regardless, the ship has identified itself as the Nefri's Pride, a long range scout-bomber. It appears to think the Von Braun is it's own command HQ, possibly an error in its computational core. It is reporting telemetry, all weapons empty and fuel near zero. The ship itself is a wreck, hardly worth salvage, but it is reporting the location of its assigned base. The location is known as the "Xvan Labs", a weapons research outpost. We have recorded the coordinates. When a survey team attempted to board the ship for salvage, the ship initiated an auto-scuttling mechanism and all operational electronics burned out in a fit of sparks and guttering flame. It is now a dead hulk.

The Xvan laboratory seems to be an overlooked icy body in a planetary ring within the Sirius system, around Sirius III. A ship has been dispatched to investigate whether the site still exists.

[forsaken1111]

2218.04.11
Not much of note has happened in the previous year. The sheer distances involved now makes even exploration of 'near-sol space' tedious and slow, with travel times of a year or more between sites. A hundred years ago, who would have thought we'd complain about travel times of mere years between solar systems?

In local news, Refuge has just seen the foundation of its first new enterprise in a decade: "Rockjam's Ice Haulers and Taco Stands". Henry "Rockjam" Blythe had this to say, during an interview on RNN:

Interviewer: "Okay I understand ice hauling, water is in short supply on Refuge… but Tacos?"

Rockjam: "Tacos are f---ing awesome man!"

I: "I… see. But how do you serve Tacos in space?"

R: "Oh that's easy, you melt the cheese on and it all sticks together even in null-g.  Try some Solar Sauce too! We have fully autonomous Taco Truck drones now, they fly out to mining and construction sites and serve tacos ON THE SPOT!"

Regardless of his motives, the ice hauling service has eased pressure on Refuge's recycling systems a great deal and has worked to ease some of the restrictions on water use and public green spaces.

2218.10.21
SSV Sojourner just reported in, another alien sighting. This time… this may be big. Cpt. Antonov has reported contact with a race of aliens which seem to be part of a multi-species culture. Reportedly they already know our language and hailed his ship in perfect spoken Russian, with English also available on a side channel as well as 4 other langauges. God knows how they managed that.

They claim to be part of "The Caravansary Caravan Coalition" and are apparently a sort of merchant commune? They offer…

[aside] Is this right?

[clears throat] They offer "games of chance and other recreational distractions". Space gambling? You heard it here first folks.

Speaker Markov has so far chosen not to partake in their services, but has opened formal relations.

2218.12.19
SSV Von Braun reports in from Sirius III.

They have found the Xvan labs.

We… oh how strange. The report has been deleted from my screen. What-

[shouting off camera]

What is … ?

[shouting, several loud thumps are heard]

[a new voice comes on the line]

Hello there from RNN, your regular news anchor Dan Patoi was called away on urgent business. It would appear he was reporting on [pause] Ah, the labs! Yes, SSV Von Braun has reported that the facility was empty and contained nothing of interest. Now on to sports!

[the channel fuzzes and fades]

[Mephansteras]

"contained nothing of interest" huh? I don't buy it for a second.