THE FIRST NEPTURAN COLONY
Our Ark Ship descended through the rich atmosphere of Aestara 1, its hull cutting through the planet’s clouds as it approached its designated landing site: a sprawling, verdant archipelago amid the planet’s vast oceans. This fertile island chain, surrounded by shimmering waters, will serve as the cradle of humanity’s first colony beyond Neptura.
With a controlled descent, the massive ship touched down not far from the coast, its landing thrusters kicking up dust and debris that went flying for miles in a great cloud. It will never take flight again. Instead, it is already being converted into the new administrative capital of the settlement, its nuclear reactor core being repurposed as the colony’s primary power source.
Around it, the first structures begin to rise. Rows of shelters and living domes dotting the untouched, raw landscape like the first flickers of civilization on an untamed world. The air buzzes with the sounds of activity as the first wave of settlers disembark in large numbers, stepping onto alien soil that will soon bear the imprint of Neptura’s dominion.
Aestara 1 is no longer just a distant, unclaimed world. It is ours.
A great triumph for the Nepturan Stellar Order.
Seated in the dim glow of his command room, Marcus unplugged himself from the GCI and requested some early probe footage of the new world. It was one thing to read about it in his cybernetic consciousness, but he wanted to see it with his own eyes.
“Athira,” he said, tapping his fingers against the armrest. “Show me my new world.”
The GCI responded instantly, pulling up a live feed from the planet, transmitted via orbital satellites and the settlement’s own reconnaissance probes. The image came into a large, crisp view, and for the first time, Marcus laid eyes on humanity’s second home.
The colony rested upon a vast, open plateau, surrounded by rolling golden plains that stretched endlessly toward the burning orange horizon. Clusters of prefab structures and food domes dotted the raw green landscape. The Ark Ship stood at the heart of the settlement, a vast ship of steel and composite plating, its vague shape resembling something like an elongated oval. It was quickly being dismantled as the materials were required to construct a new, fledgling city to administer the colony.
Beyond the plateau, the terrain sloped downward into a lush emerald forest with a dense, vibrant canopy, shifting back and forth with the breeze. Some winged creatures could be seen flying from the woods. They had long necks, and their fleshy wings reminded Marcus of those of a bat. Further beyond, the deep blue ocean glimmered under the light of humanity’s new star.
One of the other reconnaissance probes transmitted footage from the coastal regions. Jagged, black rock formations jutted out from the sand like the broken spines of ancient primordial leviathans. Strange, crystal blue vegetation clung to the cliffs, contracting and shifting as though it reacted to each change in the salty breeze.
“Expand the view,” Marcus commanded, and the footage panned toward the rippling oceans. In the distance, something moved between the waves. A shadow large enough to be seen from the clouds.
“What is that, Athira?”
The AI paused in its response, scanning and processing the data. “An unidentified marine lifeform. Estimated length: 400 meters.”
“Wow…” Marcus gasped, gazing at the vague shadow moving beneath the waves. The shape was too vague, constantly shifting with the rippling tide, for him to imagine what it might look like.
In any case, it seemed the colony was secure for now. While the colonists had landed, Marcus could see there was a long process ahead of them.
He plugged himself back into the GCI. Clicking on the colony, the only thing he saw in the planet’s information tab was a progress bar that read: COLONIZATION IN PROGRESS. It slowly ticked on ahead.
Until it was done, he could not start building anything on the planet. It would take a while before the planet would be functional for military and commercial production. But when it’s ready… we could all but double our economic and military power. Like with anything, even business, these things snowballed, Marcus knew. Slow start now, but what would it look like in 100 years? 200? 1000? Assuming he lived that long to see it all through. Come on, Claric…
As he waited for that, Marcus continued the work he was unfrozen for, which was making sure the Nepturan economy was doing well and to keep expanding it in the search for Vespera. He was pleased to report that it was indeed doing well. The stats made him optimistic and helped ease his mind amidst all the other turmoil his space state was undergoing:
- Power Units: 934 +32 (Vesperan Standard Monthly Gain)
- Raw Materials: 111 +20
- Food: 842 +16
- Heavy Compounds: 47 +18
- Consumer Goods: 60 +3
- Research Points: +66
- Cohesion: +252
Neptura certainly wasn’t lacking funds, which was good because the surplus could be used to shore up any deficits in other areas of the economy. But he was all the more pleased to know that he didn’t even need to do that. His Power Units had taken a slight hit due to the continuous production of new corvettes to expand the navy over the years, which now stood at 9 corvettes, but it wasn’t a concern. More importantly, though, his Consumer Goods production was finally in a positive without the need for state benefits. All of his new industrial zones were paying off, soaking up the unemployed clones and producing the resources his people and army needed to function properly.
He intended to put more structures in place to further boost Consumer Goods production to ensure it would not be a problem again in the foreseeable future. Eliminating the risk of a Consumer Goods deficit was especially important considering that he had to rapidly expand his navy if they were to permanently neutralize the star elven threat on their border.
And they are surely expanding their own fleets as well. We are very much in an arms race here, Marcus thought.
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Then, another notification pinged, and Athira’s voice rang through the GCI. “Orbital Command Center over the Sarrith system has completed construction.”
“Oh, excellent,” Marcus said, clicking onto the notification, which instantly shifted his view to the distant Sarrith system where the primitive Xaelith civilization they had discovered lay, its people completely ignorant to the fact that they were now under the dominion of Neptura and being quietly watched from the stars. Remembering Claric’s keen interest to study the aliens, as well as the potential threat they posed should the Aeluyn Covenant absorb them first, he wasted no time and ordered the construction of an Orbital Monitoring Post above Sarrith 4.
It made him wonder about his own planet, and how limited they truly were. Could there have been aliens watching us quietly, for our entire history? Playing at war while they explored the stars…
As he let the construction of the monitoring post zoom on ahead, he bought some Raw Materials on the market with his copious Power Unit stockpile and ordered the construction of a Mining Zone on Neptura to further boost Raw Material production, which was the bedrock of constructing everything he needed. He found himself having to buy them to build things more often than not.
Once the Orbital Monitoring Post had completed construction over Sarrith 4 after six months, during which time he had commissioned the construction of a few more corvettes, he was able to see more information about the planet itself by clicking on it. A cold, rocky world with a far, far larger landmass than that of Neptura or his new colony, most of which was covered by impassable, snowy mountain terrain.
Planet: Sarrith 4
Classification: Mountainous World / Primitive
Planetary Governor: NONE
Population: 8
Stability: 50%
Civic Services: 16
Available Housing: 0
Unemployment: 0
Available Jobs: 0
Crime: 0%
Planet specialization: NONE
Planetary Economic Zones:
- 0/10 Urban
- 0/10 Industrial
- 0/3 Fusion
- 0/10 Mining
- 0/3 Farming
Buildings:
- 1x Stone Forts
- 1x Hovels
Planetary Production:
- Food: +1
- Research Points: +3
- Cohesion +2
Only two building slots on the planet were occupied, the rest locked.
Clicking into the population tab, he saw a small amount of occupations that comprised the planet’s little workforce, including Feudal Lords, Soldiers, Priests, Philosophers, and finally, Peasants. The most interesting thing, and what he was eager to see, was the people themselves. Xaelithids.
He clicked onto the Xaelithid under the planet’s population tab, which already noted that (thanks to the information provided by the Orbital Monitoring Post) they were a fungal race. A concept Marcus already found weird, but since he had just encountered cybernetic insect people not too long ago, it didn’t surprise him as much as it may have ten years ago.
Marcus grimaced at what he saw before him. Based on the image provided, the creature stood hunched on two legs as though it were aware of its own grotesqueness. Its head was a tangled mess of coarse ridges and fibrous fungal growths, with bioluminescent veins pulsing faintly beneath the gnarled flesh. It didn’t even look like it had eyes, though two mandibles twitched in the place of a jaw.
The Xaelithid’s skin was a mottled blend of ashen grey and faint violet, textured almost like the bark of a tree. Natural carapace-like plating wrapped portions of its body, but in the softer regions where the joints met, patches of spore-like filaments were visible, pulsing ever so slightly.
Its form was tall and wiry with two elongated limbs moving in an elegant motion. It wore something which could almost be called clothing, a drape of woven roughspun fibres laced with faint patterns that almost resembled the gills of a mushroom. He couldn’t quite tell if there was a sign of gender, or if this species had genders at all. Its presence alone would make any human uneasy, Marcus reckoned.
“Athira,” Marcus said now, closing the information tab in the GCI. “Tell Claric I want to meet with him urgently.”
“It is done, your excellency.”
#
Marcus watched the stormy, grey clouds roll past his stratoship as it cut through the upper atmosphere of Neptura. They passed through a vicious lightning storm, where each thunderbolt sent blinding flashes of light through the window before the ship climbed above it all.
Before long, the stratoship descended toward the massive research complex of Neptura. A two hour flight from the command complex. The Nepturan Scientific Institute was the nerve center of the larger research complex. A sprawling facility of sleek domes, towering spires, and dazzling lights. The structure housed thousands of researchers and scientists, from biologists to astrophysicists, all working to expand human knowledge beyond the stars.
As the ship touched down on a giant, circular landing pad, its mechanized landing clamps hissed, securing the ship flatly to the ground. Marcus stepped out with haste. The pungent scent of ionized air filled his nostrils, while the harsh wind whipped against his overcoat. He adjusted the lining as he made his way toward the entrance.
Inside, the facility was dimly lit and cold, with white ceramic walls and illuminated display terminals that beeped subtly along the corridors. Clone researchers moved back and forth in their pristine white lab coats, most of whom had their heads buried in holotablets.
Claric awaited him in one of the observation chambers, standing before a massive holoscreen that displayed a live feed of Sarrith 4. A grey, rocky world flecked with patches of greenery, its massive landmass only barely broken by blue oceans. The ashen tundras and jagged mountains made the world look bleak in a way, yet it still harboured the spark of civilization.
Claric turned as Marcus entered, saluting the Grand Archon. “Your excellency.” He turned toward the projection of the planet. “Look.” The clone pressed some buttons on the screen, and the image zoomed in rapidly on the planet as though they were on a rocket descending into the atmosphere. They soon had a crisp, clear view of what looked like a city thrust backward in time.
The Xaelithid settlement was nestled within a frozen valley. Small wooden palisades surrounded the dwellings, and Marcus saw the tiny people moving around within it. Some armoured, holding primitive jagged swords or spears, while the others carried basic farming tools. A gathered mass of them toward the far side of the settlement kneeled before a crude looking obelisk.
“A civilization locked backwards in time,” Claric mused with a childlike curiosity on his face. “The Iron Age right before our eyes, though they show signs of an early feudal structure. No central government, petty kingdoms, and a population that has not yet reached one billion.
“Your excellency,” the clone continued, “The head of research on the monitoring facility, Reds, has presented an interesting option that requires your consent. If you like, we can divert our resources to go about infiltrating these primitive societies, which would allow us to mould their development in a way that suits us. We could even guide them to the stars. Use them against our enemies, and so on.”
Marcus sighed, brooding on the prospect. “Perhaps. How long would such an operation take? From Iron Age to Space Age sounds like it would take some time. If we mean to enslave the people for our own ends, would it not be quicker to just land an army there and seize the planet immediately?”
Claric smirked. “Varn is getting to you, ey? Yes, our approach would take a while. A century, perhaps, but we could guide them slowly, carefully, so that they are ready to enter the galactic community. The fast military option would have its own consequences. Think about it, it could drive half of them mad. You could push the planet into anarchy. People in a constant state of shock do not make for good workers, hm?”
“Eh…” Marcus shrugged. “I’d rather not waste my time, and more importantly, Neptura’s resources. You don’t need to puppeteer them to study them, correct? I’ve seen what they look like, they are nothing like us. The sight of them sends a chill down my back, to be honest. I’d rather not have them walking around me any time soon. Just watch them, and make sure no one else goes meddling on that planet.”
Claric, however, did not seem to be finished. He tapped the display again, bringing up a biological scan of a Xaelithid specimen.
“There is another option,” he said. “Our probes can quite easily take a few specimens to the monitoring facility for study, and we need not fear any harsh reprisals like we did from the star elves. Their physiology is vastly different to ours, and their DNA may hold unknown knowledge regarding your special project. It might be that these Xaelithids live longer than us.”
Marcus’s eyes lingered on the fungoid specimen with its strange bioluminescent skin. A slow exhale followed. “Do it,” he said finally. “And do it quietly, of course.”
Claric smiled, bowing his head with respect. “Quietly, of course, your excellency.”
Marcus nodded, turning to leave. The halls of the research facility seemed a tad colder than when he arrived, and he didn’t like how much Claric seemed to be enjoying this.