[center][b][u]Post #1: If You Build It, They Will Come[/u][/b][/center]


[b]VRS [i]Roost[/i]
Geostationary Orbit above the planet Espion
The Crion System[/b]

Captain Virion Folmer-Athobus stood amidst the glowing sphere of digitally displayed space on the bridge of the VRS [i]Roost[/i], his hands at his hips. Slightly above him, the dark, massive, gun-metal fingers of the Extron and Unitis orbital shipyards hung like the great wing of some godlike creature. Silhouetted against the blue and green orb of Espion, the metal and polymer skeletons of the shipyard’s growing progeny were visible in distinct, and awe-inspiring profile. Virion had been stationed in the Crion system most of his naval career, and he had never once seen the shipyards so full and active ever before. It was not a comforting sight. 

[i]Peace has lulled us into complacency,[/i] Virion could hear the words of his grandfather ringing in his mind. [i]We’re like a fattened couranga; happy and ignorant, just wasting away our days until the butcher’s knife crosses our throat.[/i]

Virion thrust the grim old soldier’s prophecy from his mind, though his canine teeth clicked in involuntary dismay as he did. The Glissau Revolution veteran had a flare for the dramatic, and Virion had always listened to his grandfather’s stories and opinions like one might take in good anecdotal fiction. The events of the Quantum Spacetime Anomaly, however, were making Virion think his grandfather was not as far off the mark as one might like. 

Things had gone as good as could be expected in the VUR following such a cataclysmic event. The scant four weeks since the QSA had occurred had been tumultuous for the Val, but in a way the event had also given the nation a new, fresh, and urgent focus to rally around. Industry and commerce were shifting with uncertain, but determined vigor to a wartime footing, and military recruitment had soared to such a height that the Senate had not even been forced to call a vote for a draft. All that remained for the government to do now was somehow ensure there were enough tin cans to shove all its new soldiers, marines, and navymen into should war come. That’s where the Extron and Unitis shipyards came in, and it was why Virion was here. 

For the past three weeks now, Virion, and the VRS [i]Roost[/i] which was his command, had been patrolling from Espion, to the outer reaches of the Crion system. Due to the strategic importance of the shipyards, the majority of the 3rd Fleet had been keeping station immediately around the system capital. That included the [i]Roost[/i]’s sister ship, the VRS [i]Obsidian[/i]. As ordered by Fleet Command, at least one of the massive battlecruisers had to maintain a guarding position over Espion at all times. The [i]Roost[/i] had been selected first to patrol away from the system capital. 

The past three weeks had been an unending state of vigilant stress for the crew of the [i]Roost[/i]. While no incursions into VUR space had been found, Virion had put his crew through the paces to ensure their readiness. The call for general quarters rang out ship-wide at all hours, and the crew was expected to man their battle stations in exemplary fashion. Drills of every scope and discipline were performed on a near continuous basis, until every navymen and marine operated at an almost autonomous level of proficiency. The [i]Roost[/i] itself was as clean and fit for duty as her crew was, as every minor bug and issue was dealt with as if it were the lynchpin to the entire ship’s survival. Virion knew that similar measures were being taken across every ship and unit in the entire VUR navy, and he would be damned before his command would fall short. 

Now it was time for a slight relaxation of the routine, however. The [i]Obsidian[/i] would be taking over patrol duties for the [i]Roost[/i], and it would afford Virion the opportunity to give his crew a much needed break from the rigorous routine of the past weeks. It would not be much of a break, as the duty to protect Espion and the shipyards was a vital one. But the [i]Roost[/i] would be trading its small battlegroup, which had accompanied on the patrol, for the entire remainder of the 3rd Fleet. It was no vacation for his crew, but Virion knew it was better than nothing. 

“Good morning, Captain. The [i]Obsidian[/i] and her battlegroup have reported that they will be departing shortly.”

Virion blinked out of his reverie, and turned towards the voice behind him. He was greeted by the sleek black-furred face of his Executive Officer, Commander Elasha Anarzee-Thanaris. The younger female Val was holding out a pouch of [i]ketoper[/i] in her clawed hand, offering it to him. 

“Very good, commander,” Virion said as he took the [i]ketoper[/i] pouch, and placed it between the lip and the gums on the right side of his lower jaw. Immediately he could feel the effect of the herb as it awoke his senses, and quickened the beat of his heart. “Glad to see home?”

Elasha nodded before placing a pouch of [i]ketoper[/i] inside of her own mouth. She was a native of Espion, and had lived within the Crion system her entire life. “It is,” she said, “though the circumstances of our homecoming could be better.” Elasha scoffed, and her tail swished behind her. “The damn anomaly event. What a clusterfuck.” 

Virion’s grey muzzle drew up into a scowl, and he grunted affirmation to his XO’s eloquent assessment. 

[center][b]*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*[/b][/center]

[b]Naval Deep Space Command Center
Orbital Platform A45-12
Geosynchronous Orbit above the moon Einus
The Qetesh System[/b]

Lieutenant Camus Illianaru-Basothius leaned back in his seat, and let out a low breath. His eyes ached from hours of close examination of the digital displays before him, and his tall ears twitched ceaselessly from fatigue. For weeks now, he had analyzed intelligence alerts flagged by satellites, ships, and other data collecting sources from all across the Qetesh system. Most of what the computers deemed important was nothing of the sort, but priorities had changed since the event, and more chaff was getting in with the wheat. Leaning forward, Camus rubbed at his yellow eyes with the backs of his hands—his shift was far from over. 

In the collective aftermath of the Quantum Spacetime Anomaly, much of the Valeth Unified Republic had found itself in tumult, at least insofar as normal commerce was concerned. It had not taken long for the galactic trade and freight companies to see that the universe around them was not the same. In fact, civilian sensor arrays had detected the anomaly hours before the navy’s Fleet Intelligence Office had. Knowledge was power, power brought profit, and so it surprised no one in the VUR that the private sector had provided the first threads of intelligence on the Quantum Spacetime Anomaly. Thusly, since the corporations knew first, their shareholders knew soon after. By the time the Fleet Intelligence Office was beginning to wrap its head around what was occurring, the trade commission of the VUR had already halted open stock trading to avoid full collapse. Though not in ruin, the VUR’s economy still had plenty of wreckage to sort through. 

The chaos was not all-encompassing, however. Naval satellite PC-Q-155852 had gone about its work, impervious to the far-away toils of its creators. The satellite was in fact a massive sensors array, orbiting lazily around the small ice planet of Caglilia. With its multitude of advanced lenses and antennae, PC-Q-155852 was one of the VUR navy’s premier early warning and detection units. Though it served other scientific functions, its primary mission was the monitoring of deep space beyond the realm of the VUR. 

Some two days following the believed zero-hour of the anomalous event, PC-Q-155852 detected spikes in light, spanning the entire spectrum, as well as bursts of radiation and other energetic particulate flows. The satellite’s computer worked as it was designed, and oriented its sensors fully towards the source direction. After several minutes of data collection, and subsequent analysis, the computer decided that what it was looking at was the telltale signature of a new star system. Further analysis as more and more data accumulated led the satellite to conclude that in fact it was looking at a system bearing [i]dual[/i] stars. 

In just over an hour following its initial sensor detection of the dual star system, PC-Q-155852 sent a tachyon burst transmission with its findings to its handlers at the Naval Deep Space Command Center. With only a mere 0.000065 light-years separating the planet Caglilia from the moon Einus, the FTL message was near instantaneous. 

[i]SATDAT-FLASH-DATA
SOURCE: PC-Q-155852
SUMMARY MESSAGE: CELESTIAL BODY DETECTED. LIKELY STAR SYSTEM. BINARY STARS W/SIGNATURES OF a. NUETRON, b. MAIN SEQUENCE-YELLOW DWARF. UNKNOWN ORBITING SATELLITES. COORDINATES AS FOLLOWS…[/i]

Fresh, raw data was like water to the Val, and they were drowning in it. Every capable ship, satellite, sensor array, telescope, and spectrometer looked outward from the relatively untouched region of VUR space, searching desperately for any recognizable clues as to just where in the universe they had been transplanted. Coordinates of new, never before seen star systems and celestial anomalies flowed in a steady stream into the VUR’s intelligence and scientific hubs. Amidst it all, the finding of PC-Q-155852 would not have been cause for any special attention or alarm. That is, until the satellite completed a sensor sweep of the new binary star system it had found. 

Following the primary sensor detection, and subsequent reporting of that find, PC-Q-155852 received an autonomous and routine order from the computers of Naval Deep Space Command. As it had done for thousands of star systems over the course of its operating life, PC-Q-155852 sent out a powerful burst of precisely distributed tachyon particles. These particles hurtled through the cosmos at incredible speeds, and they crossed the distance of almost 17,000 light-years to their intended target, within roughly two-weeks. Having found their mark, these particles bounced back, carrying their precious data with them. When they returned once more, their trip home taking slightly less time than their first, they delivered their payload of data to PC-Q-155852. 

[i]SATDAT-FLASH-DATA
SOURCE: PC-Q-155852
SUMMARY MESSAGE: SECONDARY SWEEP re: STAR SYSTEM #HG-13824132. FURTHER SENSOR DATA YIELDS NINE PRIMARY ORBITING SATELLITES OF PLANET MASS. INITIAL RELATIVE PLANET DATA SUGGESTS THREE WITHIN PHYSICAL PARAMETERS TO HARBOR KNOWN LIFE TYPES.[/i]

Camus sat up as his computer display pinged excitedly before him. Lifting his eyes, he glanced to the message from PC-Q-155852. As he read, his ears lifted, and his muzzle drew closer to the screen. Camus read the message again, and yet again. After reading, and double checking the data that had been sent along with the satellite’s message, Camus called for the floor duty officer. As he waited at his desk, a thought passed through his mind. 

[i]I wonder if anyone in that system was around to hear that tachyon sensor burst…?[/i]