2336: With Newscouts already in position at the far corners of the Sakkra empire when Deuterium came in, and colony ships already in production or en route, Sssla's wider galactic neighborhood was soon discovered. Mindful of their news, traveling with the sister ship of the Consume 1.0, Colonialus Poetate dedicated the latest Sakkra colony with verse embossed on a memorial plaque that still graces the entrance to Ryoun Central Starbase:
Think not, o verdant sun,
That my heart is not your own
Because I yearn forever for the stars:
But set me free to run
Through the space-lanes, and alone,
You, bright star, will be the yearning of my heart.
While extending the Sakkra empire's range to the south and west, Ryoun also provided an important launching-point for interstellar commerce. Emperor Lasitus of the Humans, an honorable Diplomat, proved to be more powerful than RBO-18 himself, and accepted the Sakkra offer of a 25 BC trade package, never realizing that the offer was made primarily so that there would be a deal to break in case Rex Bipolar Obsessivus the 18th surpassed him in power in time. It was a vaulting ambition indeed, as first hinted by the map Lasitus provided of his empire, already numbering five stars:
2337: The Consume 1.0 arrived safely at Selia, but Lasitus was expanding himself; his armed starships had chased RBO-18's Newscout from Proteus, the world Obsessivus called "Our ultra-poor steppe-ing stone to the northwest," almost as soon as the Sakkra arrived, and even as Selia was claimed by the Sakkra far to the northeast, Proteus was added to the Human empire. The first report of this blow to Sakkra ambition is still on file at the GNN archives:
Primary Sources: The Constricted Era
2343: Sakkra focus returned to research with no further planets available for conquest, opening Reduced Industrial Waste 80% for lack of other construction options in 2339. Simultaneously, while continuing to scout uninhabited worlds outside of their colony range, the Sakkra sent their Newscouts to alien colonies, garnering several reports of undeveloped border worlds. The Humans did some scouting of their own however, reaching Ryoun with an armed fighter in 2342, just as GNN reported their production the greatest in the galaxy, with the Sakkra's sixth and last. The saurians would not be disheartened however, and it was just the following year that Planetary Governor Kingsnake made his famous Starshine Oration, exerpted here:
We may be few in number, with but a single factory assembled on our world, but we are Sakkra, and the stars are ours! We fear no drifting star, though it circles our lonely world, sending frantic signals to ape-like overlords. Our own Denial fighters near completion as I speak, with dozens like it already on the way, new-built, from Sssla! With a Newscout to fly interference, we shall defeat the enemy for ourselves even before help arrives, for Sakkra never yet have feared the skies!
2347: It was soon discovered that the Human Gunboat's "frantic transmissions" had been a call for assault transports, which soon were winging their way toward Ryoun as well. Admiral Vipersian was in charge of the local fleet, some 45 Denials strong, and his reports were succinct, here presented in their entirety:
Incoming transports detected.
...
Targets engaged.
...
Targets destroyed.
2352: Four years after nuclear engine research completed, opening the way toward Dotomite Crystals and a new fleet of Newscout 2s that were built immediately, just one year before the Sakkra construction project completed and opened the way to Improved Industrial Tech 8, a political commentator of the era, Punditus Bloviator, took note of the latest galactic news:
So I'm watching GNN this morning, and the droid reports a computer virus, so of course I assume it means us. [canned laughter] Reduced Waste's been "on the verge" for years, so it's gotta be that one, right? [more canned laughter] "Ooooops, just as we were about to get it! So sorry, environmentalists! We tried!" [laugh track runs again] Suuuuuuuuure. [laugh track] No, no, construction's fine though. It's the Psilons getting hit in Force Fields! What a break for us! They lost an entire research point! [canned laughter] I'm not kidding! One! Entire! Point! [laughter-in-a-can] So we've got to teach these Psilons a lesson, right? [laugh track] We've got to show them how to really screw up your research. [canned laughter] Well, we're up to the task! We've been researching along on Dotomite, giving it half our research energy, right? I mean you've gotta, right? And when Controlled Dead comes in, what's going to happen to all that work? [canned laughter] [recorded sound of a toilet flushing] [canned laughter becomes uproarious] That's right. [recorded toilet flush] [canned laughter threatens to actually tear the laughter-generating machine apart.]_______________
Next: Going Crazy (and Staying There!)
