"We're regaining contact with the SFC now..." Reported a com officer within the confines of New Auroria's control center.
It had been a little over a month since the Gate's destruction had caused a burst of radioactivity that disabled coms and damn near wiped out much of the electronics of the UAF. And much of the Persean Sector as a whole, it seemed. The burst of electromagnetism was so strong that it'd traversed and damn-near destabilized Hyperspace. They were still dealing with the repercussions here, at the epicenter of what should've been a cataclysmic blast, but thankfully, they were well on their way to a full restoration of working order across the Sector.
From static, the figure of a decent-looking old man appeared, sunglasses glimmering in the light of his own monitor. A voice began to announce the man's full title, but Queen Aeria greeted with a half-smile, "Evening, Phillip... Or is it morning on your side of the world right now?" which caused the man to scoff and wave off the full intro. He scratched the top of his head.
"Been damn near a month since you blinded us, Queen. Take it the Remnant vessels in your territory have been dealt with?" He asked, his voice surprisingly calm for what Charlotte and Ambassador Fairchild had really expected. The Queen gave him a simple nod, to which he replied, "Least that went well... We got in contact with the Perseans and Hegemons just now as well. Take it we were the last to the party..."
"Pretty much, though we did manage to contact several of your outgoing vessels once our hyperspace jump points stabilized," The Queen nodded, arranging her uniform jacket over her shoulders. She added, "I am quite glad the deflagration from the Gateway's destruction wasn't worse. Preliminary probe deployments show that the entire Sector is still as we've left it."
"Damn Drones really oughta learn to behave every now and then. As for you, Aeria, we're gonna need to have one hell of a talk about letting things slip. That nearly cost tens of billions across the entire Sector their lives, not to mention the profits for the sales of Antimatter fuel..." The man scoffed. Well, Aeria thought, at least he mentioned the people first, so he was learning to be nicer.
"Indeed... Speaking of, I'm afraid I do have to depart. Have to see how one of my Flight Lieutenants is doing."
"I'll take over chatter," The Ambassador offered, then looked to Phillip Andrada, head of the Sindrian Fuel Company, who seemed surprised. The Queen gave a nod of thanks, before waving to Phillip and stepping off toward the medical areas. Some of their crews and pilots had been injured by the subsequent deflagration after the bombing of the Gateway Project.
The woman took a personal vehicle under the escort of the Royal Marines, soldiers clad in some of the most advanced infantry gear they could afford. Ranging from light power armors and exoskeletons to high-caliber rifles and plates meant to withstand even the hit of a Directed Energy Weapon, the Blue Dogs of the United Aurora Federation's Military greeted Her Highness with warm, kind salutes and eager-for-action smirks.
She saluted them back with a smile, then plopped herself down in the seat of her vehicle. The convoy itself was formed of a pair of MRAPs and the limousine itself, aboard which a couple of executives were waiting to deliver the daily reports to her. The vehicles began their travel, of course, toward the military hospital just outside the capital city, the queen watching the beautiful scenery they passed by fade in the background...
Arriving at the hospital, they found it packed with the still-healing casualties of the detonation, some of them comatose, others ambulating. Most were fine, considering the distance from the epicenter, but the Admiral and Commodore had also been injured. In the white neon lights that reflected off silver sterile tiles and half-white, half-blue walls, she made out the faces of several of their more famous pilots and crew.
Admiral Solvernia came out of a cabinet, waving goodbye with her free left hand, the right put in a cast that was to be removed today. She turned to face the corridor, only to see the Queen and her escorts. Snapping a crisp salute with her supposedly-injured hand, Solvernia gave a smile to her old friend, who returned it in kind. Joining the procession of Marines and royalty, Solvernia said, "A hundred of ours and about half that from our allies, dead... Minimal damage considering what we expected from the detonation of the Gate's Core, but..."
"Still too many for my taste, Auria," Sighed the queen, "How are you?"
"Arm's healed. I'll be able to strike a fun pose for the cameras soon enough," She joked as they walked. "You here to see Yimmie?"
Aeria nodded solemnly and Solvernia hummed and licked her lips. She told her, "She still blames herself for failing to hit the target that caused all this. Psychiatrists said she has what's called Survivor's Guilt."
"Well, her entire squadron was caught in the blast... They were too close. But she will persevere. She's our Ace, after all," Aeria commented with confidence as they approached the ward. She was wary, obviously, wary of the young woman's issues. Who wouldn't have survivor's guilt after half of your squadron was atomized by the blast of an antimatter reactor detonating? A rhetorical question, but one nonetheless...
Entering Yimmie's room, the pair were greeted by a slew of 'Get Well' cards and flowers, some of them from the girl's squadron. Her blonde hair was caught in a bun and she wore her glasses as she read a book, probably not even noticing the queen and Admiral at first. Arranging her hospital gown, the young woman sighed deeply, then set the book aside and turned to greet whom she thought was the doctors coming to check on her again. Her expression of underlying sadness quickly switched to one of shock.
Jumping to her bare feet in nothing but her gown, the young woman saluted and said, "Admiral and Queen, on-deck!" almost mechanically. Aeria looked to Solvernia and the two smiled, before both snapped salutes back and gave her a nod to put her at-ease. Yimmie gave a half-hearted smile and lowered her hand, then told them, "Didn't know I'd be getting visitors, ma'ams... Would've freshened up a little..."
"It's fine, Lieutenant," Aeria said as she pulled a chair over from the desk and sat herself down, "I understand you're having some... Difficulties... After treatment."
"It's... Nothing, ma'am," She replied avoidantly, "I can deal with it."
"No soldier needs to deal with anything alone in the UAF, Lieutenant Thompson," Aeria spoke softly, like a mother trying to comfort her child. She motioned for Yimmie to take a seat, which the girl did, leaning back onto the mattress on her medical bed and staring at the Queen, her blue eyes filled with a degree of regret visible even behind the thick frames of her reading glasses. The Queen smiled at her, then added, "You are one of our best pilots, Yimmie. We would be remiss to leave you to your own thoughts without trying to help like we're helping many of our other troops."
Yimmie hummed, smiled sadly and said, "I fucked up, ma'am. There's no two ways about it..."
"Nobody could've predicted how focused on us they would be, Yimmie. And nobody blames you for anything..." The Queen stood up and walked up to the girl, then sat herself down next to the blonde. She stated, "If anything, I've failed in predicting the Remnant's movements as well, and we all share a blame for it. I'm certain your squadron-mates are proud of you for fighting as hard as you did."
The girl took her glasses off, tears forming at the corners of her eyes as her voice cracked, "We lost too many people..."
She nodded, "In war, lives are sadly lost. We'll do better and make sure it never repeats, Lieutenant, but we will need every capable man and woman we have in our forces to make sure that happens," before wiping the tears out of Yimmie's eyes and telling her, "So you recover as best as you can... Because we will need our Ace back in the sky, okay?"
The girl took a moment, then gave a warm smile to the Queen and saluted, "For Auroria and All Her Colonies, ma'am."
Aeria beamed, gave the girl a salute back and a poat on the shoulder, then bid goodbye. Solvernia and her walked through the hospital, visiting various other patients and chatting. The good admiral said, "You're certainly leagues above your father when it comes to interpersonal interactions with your subjects, Your Highness," with a smirk. Aeria chuckled.
"Yes, father was a rather introverted man..." She joked, too. Both paused as they saw local staff approach them. A Radioman from the looks of his gear. He saluted the two women, who gave salutes back, then watched as he handed the Queen a transcript. Taking it gingerly from the man's hands and offering a quick nod of thanks, she read it, then hummed, "The Observatory at Lagrange University is summoning me. They say it's an important discovery of some kind..."
"We'll take you there right away. I can just take the cast off myself on the way, then I'll board the Solvernia in case it's... Well, anything relaly major," The Admiral offered. Despite wanting to protest, Aeria gave her old friend a nod, the two of them marching out of the hospital and boarding the vehicles once more. Polar opposite to the Military Hospital which sat at near sea level, the Lagrange Observatory was located high on top of the mountains near the capital and just above the University itself. The drive up was, however, rather thankfully uneventful.
The University below was an ancient and very beautiful building, built out of marble and brick and made to house the Pre-Unification Era's greatest developing minds and help develop them as historical conflicts arose on the planet. The Observatory, itself a more modern building with a dome through which the massive high-power telescope peered in order to view the Stars above, was active like an anthill.
Scientists mapped something new, it seemed. The head researcher of the staff approached the women, pushing a strand of her greying hair off her shoulder and arranging her glasses on her nose. She tugged at her labcoat and arranged her badge, then greeted, "Your Highness. Admiral Solvernia. Just in time..." and extended her tablet toward the two, "We have a... Strange discovery to talk about."
The two women exchanged glances, before looking to and following the Doctor forward into the observatory. The woman explained, "The moment we managed to get the radiotelescope and various other observation instruments in geosynchronous orbit above Auroria and Lunamun working, we observed a fairly strange phenomenon. Aside from the familiar shine of the hundreds of stars in the Persean Sector, there were new stars among them, mostly orientated to the supposed Spatial 'South', for lack of a better term, of the Sector's border, where we are."
"What?" Aeria asked, stunned.
The doctor simply nodded, "A common reaction among my staff. We have cross-referenced these stars with old starmaps of the Domain Era and found little to no similarities. We even checked our old photographs taken by the Lunamun Observation Station and the Defense Stations we built high above other systems... Nothing was the same... Which leads into the insanity that I am about to state... I think we are no longer in the Milky Way. Or not in our version of it."
"... Do you mean to say that..." Solvernia took a pause, "We jumped universes when the Gate detonated?"
"Indeed..." The woman replied, motioning to a screen they were approaching. She told them, "With permission from high-ranking military and exploratory officials, we deployed FTL Probes through Hyperspace to the closest of these stars. The telemetry and images they brought back are stunning displays of the truth. But we've had one encounter I specifically called you here for, Your Highness..." And, upon stopping in front of the holographic screen, the Doctor turned to one of her adjutants and said, "Display Probe number 061's visual data. Max enhancement..."
To further exacerbate the sheer confusion and surprise the two women felt, images taken by the probe appeared. At first, the start of the footage was blurry as the small probe entered the gravity well of one of the many planets. Moments later, though, blur resolved into shapes and those shapes, into the visible, angular forms of warships sat in orbit around a massive green orb, a distant sun in the background visible between the hulls of the dozens of ships of varying sizes and the defensive stations that looked like swords, central rings resembling their guard.
"My God..." Murmured Solvernia, "D-Do we have an estimate size of the ships we're seeing here...?"
"Approximate length of this ship," The doctor pointed at the forwardmost vessel orbiting the place, a heavily armored and clearly very heavily-armed vessel that almost resembled a Battleship in design, "Is situated at a calculated one thousand one-hundred ninety-two meters from bow to stern. Others vary in size, but most are within the hundreds of meters to kilometers in length."
"Incredible. They are the same size as our own Dreadnoughts..." Aeria whispered, a smile on her face, then asked, "Have they spotted the probe?"
"Yes," She nodded, then brought up a log from the scout unit and stated, "Current transmissions from probe 061 are noted to have been received as far back as a few hours ago, while the Probe has been in orbit for over two days now. They attempted to contact the Probe itself, but received no answer from us, obviously. We're attempting to establish a direct and permanent link to it, however, should you wish to speak with them, Your Highness."
"I don't think that'll be required..." The Queen hummed, taking a moment to consider what she wanted to do while the two women ahead of her stared on, worried. Auria was worried because she knew Aeria well. And when she decided, Aeria spoke, "Admiral Solvernia, I ask that your battlegroup escort me and an envoy ship to meet these people. Doctor, send a message ahead via the Probe if you can."
"Wait, ma'am, are you certain that's a good idea-" Solvernia started protesting.
"Yes," She replied with a smile, "We need to make the first move in greeting these new possible comrades. Let's move," She told them, then ordered, "Send a message via the Probe that we mean no harm and that an envoy ship will be coming within the next few days. And please, tell the rest of our comrades in the Sector about this development... Ample warning ahead, perhaps."
"I... Understood, ma'am," Doc had wanted to protest, but, with a heavy sigh, she turned to do as ordered. Despite not knowing it, both she and the Admiral thought much the same, that Aeria was going to get killed while pulling a similar stunt like this one day. At least she had the common sense to request that the Admiral join in with her Battle Group. Though she wasn't sure what one Dreadnought was gonna do to what seemed to be a squadron of them on the other side.
Comfort for comfort's sake, she figured... Then she remembered she should protest.
"Aeria," She called out, "Aeria, hold on a minute. Isn't this a bit rash? We should do as the Doctor said and attempt to contact them via the Probe's transmit system, not risk the Solvernia, her escorts and, most importantly, you to begin talks with a people we don't even know about. We don't know if they want to talk, or if they even care enough to listen..."
"I understand your concerns, Auria," She told her as they entered the limousine, "But I have a good feeling... And you know how my gut feelings usually are."
Yes, Auria knew. She knew once Aeria got that type of gut feeling, there was really no stopping her from getting what she wanted. That and that they were right every time 95% of the time. There was that one time she loved touting in front of the girl whenever she did this type of stuff. Something, however, stopped her from countering her little protege and old friend now...
Instead, she chose to follow along and see how this would play out, as well as make sure their Queen would survive the encounter...
Some hours later, with the Persean Conglomerate's other members alerted about the situation so they may prepare and with a political and ambassadorial staff loaded aboard an unarmed starliner alongside the Queen and her Guard, the Away Mission began. Aeria sat in her room, aboard the massive Starliner UAFS Incredible, reading the data streaming still from Auroria and from the probes themselves.
A knock on the door took her out of her thoughts. She turned and called out, "Please, do come in," before the door slid aside to reveal the rather basic room to Amanda. She greeted the Ambassador with a smile and said to her, "I presumed you'd be aboard with my staff and retinue. I didn't have much time to check the passenger lists, so I trusted my Chief of Security to."
"The Lioness was quite interesting," Chuckled Ambassador Fairchild, "I suppose I should find it only natural you'd want to make contact with a possible alien species first, but I'm still stunned with how quickly this little political mission was prepared."
"You'd be surprised how quickly my people can mobilize if the need arises," She chuckled, "But then again, you witnessed our entire Navy come in the moment we were dealing with the Remnant's forces, so..." then she turned to the Ambassador. She told her, "I know you must think much the same as Auria, that I'm crazy for going ahead with a diplomatic mission without a few days' study of these new people... Or at least contacting them first."
"Uh-huh," Amanda nodded, sitting herself down on the floor, legs crossed, "Look, Your Highness... I think I have a good bead on you. So, yes, it may be crazy for any other leader to do this type of thing, but when taking into account you wrangled the entire Sector into an alliance after defeating that abomination of a Warship, the 'Dragon', or whatever its name was...? Heh, like I said, I should've expected it..."
The queen chuckled, "Got to take opportunity by the horns..."
"Gotta also avoid getting gored, Aeria," The girl replied, then sighed, "I just hope we'll get a good first meeting, get some trade going and maybe get some help in dealing with the Remnant still occupying the hundreds of Systems in the Northern Corridor." And she hummed, then stood up and opened a window, revealing the strange swirl of the dimension of Hyperspace, a place where reality seemed indistinct, like a blur, and where the Laws of Physics weren't always Laws proper...
She told her, "I'm stunned by the amount of automated ships that just moved and set up shop there."
"We'll uproot them later," The Queen replied, then calmly turned back to reading her paperwork. Noting that silence had settled upon the room for five minutes, the two women gave each-other a goodbye wave and Amanda stepped out, closing the door behind her. The trip would go on unabated for the next ten days, until the Battle Group and the Envoy Ship reached the Gravity Well.
On the bridge of the Envoy ship, the Queen's gaze was locked on the way through, a small portal that would allow them to traverse from Hyperspace into realspace above the planet itself. She hummed and ordered, "Tell the Battle Group to wait at the Jump Point and only to jump in if we transmit our Mayday. I know the Admiral likely won't agree, but I would rather our first meeting be friendly."
Despite the exasperation in several crewmates' sighs and the unseen and unheard one of her Royal Guard, the entire force complied. At Aeria's orders, the ship slowly pushed forward, utilizing its antimatter drive to allow itself to jump through into the gravity well. A moment passed between them touching the edge of the jump point and the drive spooling, a deafening whirr filling the ship's hull. To outside viewers, the ship's form started to disappear, fading from reality with a warble, before it went through the 'portal' of the Jump Point.
Moments later, Queen Aeria Charlotte's envoy ship had arrived over the planet. Arrayed above it was a defensive cordon of space stations similar to the one the probe had in its field of vision. The vessels of the unknown faction maintained their patrol patterns, though they'd obviously noticed their entrance as, about a minute after the Incredible entered Realspace, two shuttle-sized fighter craft buzzed them, only to swing back around to the main fleet.
"Defense fleet is maintaining its positions. No weapons charge detected, nor change in posture," The Sensor officer of the ship reported. The foxgirl in charge of sensors tapped a button and said, "Receiving multiple pings. Scans and communication. Teeg, can you confirm?" then turned to the man as her console clicked and beeped rapidly, the image of the dozens of vessels around them sending sensor pings flashing on the main radar console.
"Confirming," The male com officer replied calmly, "They're light. Transmissions are handwave signals. Detecting our Probe as well..."
"Patch me through and translate it as best as you can to all known languages," The Queen ordered, "I will greet our newfound neighbors..." and she waited for the Com officer to give the okay. A thumbs up later, Aeria cleared her throat and began, "Greetings, salutations and hello. My name is Aeria Charlotte Yuki and I am the Queen and representative of the United Aurora Federation, as well as a representative of the Persean Conglomerate Council, an alliance of many small human nation-states situated within the Persean Sector. We mean your people no harm and, in fact, would like to open a friendly discourse with you if possible. Thank you."
The transmission was beamed to all the ships present on a multitude of frequencies, one for each language the UAF still had in their database(So not a lot). Another four minutes of twitchy waiting passed before the Com officer called out, "Receiving reply... Handshake requested. Accepted... From one of the Dreadnoughts, ma'am," allowing those aboard to release any breaths they may've held due to the stress. Aeria gave a nod of approval for the com officer to patch it through.
When the task was done, the group was stunned as the figure of a rough-hewn, old man clad in a white uniform and wearing a peaked cap appeared. He scratched his chin, eyeing the crew aboard the Envoy vessel as he began to speak, "I am Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, of the United Nations Space Command Navy, contacting Queen Aeria. Welcome to Epsilon Eridani, Ma'am... You've picked a hell of a day for your people's first visit, I'll tell you that much."
