[b][i]Faira Fleetnet News[/i][/b]

[i]State of the Fleet[/i]
Since the cataclysm, our fleet has been trying to establish working supply chain and adequate protection for the survivors. Today, the admiralty officially declared the operation a success. Our race has persevered despite the Universe trying to undo our existence. Admiral Sola had this to say:

“Together we have survived a catastrophe that would have ended any other. Yet we can only celebrate our success with sorrow. Over three billion of our kind remained behind on Faira'Erea and were consumed by the Star’s wrath. Let those souls never be forgotten, for it is due to their tireless work that we are now alive. We have elected to hold a fleet wide memorial service for our dead planet today at twelve o’clock.”

With the launch of the ED Warden, all three of our pre-exodus planned fleets are now complete. The admiralty has not yet approved of a new construction plan.

[i]Exploration of Exodus[/i]
The system which we used to flee from the nova of Faira Star have been officially named ‘Exodus’. The Vanguard fleet under Admiral Cygnus is scheduled to depart tot he system to survey it for usable resources. Unfortunately, the preliminary report indicates that the system is void of any habitable planet, much less one suited to our needs. The Vanguard fleet will proceed further in hopes of locating a suitable home for us.

The only notable site is the system’s sole gas giant. The large planet has cleared out most of the system’s asteroids which became moons of the planet, twelve in total. The admiralty believes building a forward operations base in the system to be the best course of action. It is yet undecided what this base should look like, and for the moment, one of the Patrol fleet's frigate groups will be stationed in the planet's orbit along with Faira'Hexus for detailed resource survey.

[i]New hope?[/i]
The most important discovery however is the presence of a second jump node in the Exodus system, in the vicinity of the Gas giant designated ‘Exodus'Juno’. Our subspace scientists believe it is the gas giant’s large gravity that allowed for the second jump node to exist without the need for binary star system as was once theorized.

Admiral Cygnus of the Vanguard fleet revealed that automatic probes were already sent through the node to determine the location of the new system and extract data about it’s composition. Preliminary scans are still being processed, but the Admiral believes that the Vanguard fleet might be able to transit through the node within the next week to establish our presence and hopefully find new resources. We wish our sisters in the Vanguard fleet safe voyage and hope they will return safely and with good news.

[b][i]Exodus system - ED Explorer, flagship of Vanguard Fleet[/i][/b]

The admiral folded her hands on her chest and leaned back in her chair. Ever since they discovered the relic ship on their homeworld, they knew they were not alone in the universe. She did not fear that. The only thing Cygnus feared was their response for when they would become said proof to someone else. “Are you certain of this, Commander?”

In front of her stood a Faira with blue accents on her skin too similar to the admiral’s to be a coincidence. “Yes. The background noise of the cosmos in the new system displays frightening regularity. It is either a proof of an intelligence present during the birth of the universe and of an intelligent design of everything that is, or it is a heavily degraded signal from technology, most likely communications. We both know which is more likely.” the scientist answered. “From the weak sensors on the probe we weren’t able to determine anything about them, we will have to investigate on our own. The other end of the Jump node seems to be on the edge of the system - hopefully we will remain undetected by them before we can determine more.”

“That’s fairly wishful thinking. For what we know, there are civilizations several times older than us. I trust our equipment, but I don’t know how far we should dare go. We are not many - if we stretch too thin and lead something awful to our home...” Cygnus sighed, “I will have to discuss this with the rest of the Admiralty. You may go now.”

Slamming her fist against her chest in a salute, the blue Faira turned to leave. “Astra...” The admiral called out, making her quest turn her head over her shoulder, “Good work.”

[b][i]Several days later, Exodus-Unknown jump node[/i][/b]

It was an impressive sight. The Meteor-class destroyers were nowhere near as large as the civilian ships, but they had this menacing look to them. The gray, monolithic ship was covered in additional ablative plates, the spire shaped subsystems and dark red accents completing it’s brutish look. Cygnus still remembered the protests of the civilian admirals against building these powerhouses, but now that she was heading to a potential first contact, the admiral couldn’t help but be thankful for having these ‘solutions to nonexistent problems’, as they called them.

The Explorer was not alone. Accompanying it were four corvettes and half a dozen cruisers, with two frigate groups to boot. The explorer would not be making the transition through the node though, instead it stood ready to kill whatever might come back through the jump node in case they - whoever they were - turned hostile. Cygnus nodded when all ships reported in and took a deep breath. “Here we go. Curious, you have a go. Travel safely. We are here if you need us.”

[b][i]EFG Curious[/i][/b]

"You heard the Admiral! Oracle, be on guard. Navigation, helm, take us in." Astra ordered. She never ceased to be amazed by what followed. A large red and white rip opened in normal space and the ship passed through to the swirling tunnel. Subspace was a volatile dimension. It was only due to gravity having a stabilizing effect on it that traveling through was possible. If it wasn't the only way forward, she doubted the admiralty would ever allow anyone through.

The trek wasn't too long, and within ten minutes the Curious and it’s accompanying corvettes and cruisers emerged on the other side of the node. The crew immediately sprung into action, flooding Astra with reports. “Any contacts or threats?” the commander asked, her blue eyes set on the Oracle.

“Negative. But if they have the technology to notice us, the Subspace vortex will do the trick. As for our normal operations, we believe our shielding will greatly diminish our electronic signature. Any sensors less advanced than our own should have great difficulty targeting us, albeit perhaps not detecting us. We should be hard to spot by optical detection past ten thousand meters.” the Oracle reported.

Listening to her options, Astra shook her head. “We stay put. If whoever is here happens to be strongest than us and hostile, I do not want to have our only way home cut off. No sense of sitting around waiting for them either. Proceed with a system-wide scan, let’s see where we ended up and what exactly is here.” the commander decided. Nothing to do now but wait as the Oracle felt her way around.