2300: Speech by Manufactor Serpentus, a great advocate for RBO-18's ascension, at a ceremony dedicating the discovery of the Retro Engines that allowed exploration of the stars.
All hail the Sakkra Emperor, Rex Bipolar Obsessivus the 18th! May he reign in glory forever! Now excuse me while I rush off to build factories! Out of my way, everybody!2303: The essence of the Sakkra was captured by Colonialus Poetate, with the haiku he composed on first setting foot on a new world:
O Xengara's sky,
Hide the stars in smoky clouds!
Yet still they call me!
2310: Obsessive factory building on Sssla proceeded without interruption while Xengara's restless colonists, still filled with wanderlust, build Newscouts to reach for the stars. As greater light was shed on the hostile neighborhood of Xengara and Sssla, the backline purple star, assumed hostile for many years, received intense attention as the only one that might still hold a habitable planet within immediate range. Captain Gecko's report:
A negative. I repeat, it's a negative. I've lost all my sensor arrays. The planet's like liquid platinum flowing. My mineral detection meter and temperature display are both flatlined in the red. The probe I sent down exploded in the heat moments after reporting mineral resonance so high, I had to send a second probe to the same fate to be sure it wasn't an error. Nothing could survive down there. I repeat..."
This proved a turning point for the Sakkra, as work finally began on planetology and propulsion research. There were no further hope of expanding to the stars with existing technology. Thanks to their incredibly high birthrate however, the Sakkra people still sent no transports to Xengara from Sssla; their colony was presumed to be able to fend for itself, at least with respect to population.
Primary Sources: The Great Awakening
2311: Plans soon came to light for the first Sakkra research projects in the labs of Bluescale Iguanaius:
I do not say that Improved Eco Restoration is the only choice in planetology, as Deuterium Fuel Cells are in propulsion. I say only for the present that Terraforming can and must wait.
2314: With both research projects receiving heavy and equal investments to make up for lost time, the Sakkra explored more distant stars. A favorite document on file at the national museum is a recording of Captain Gecko's final report from 2314:
Unknown alien starship detected in orbit - call sign "Guardian." No idea what that means. Closing for a full scan. ... By Tiamat ... by Tiamat! What is that thing?!As any student of Galactic History could have warned him, Captain Gecko did not survive to send any further transmissions. The location of Orion and its Guardian was duly noted by the Sakkra people.
2321: The Sakkra finally completed their map of their corner of space - what little they could determine without Deuterium - having encountered only a single alien starship apart from the Guardian. The original, unedited map is now on display in the National Gallery:
2322: From the official report of Dr. Bluescale Iguanaius on the development of Improved Eco Restoration:
Let us not press on so soon toward dead worlds, still less the horrors of bio-warfare, merely flush with our initial successes. If we husband our resources carefully, there is yet time to complete Improved Terraforming +10, as we discussed years ago, even before Deuterium Cells come in. Let us make what we can of our strengths, while there is something to be made of them.2326: From an official brochure provided to factory engineers on Sssla, entitled, "200":
The task of a generation is at last complete, but our true work is only beginning! Hold up your hands - the hands that helped build the hope of a world! Those are the hands of a starship engineer - a lizard by whose work the stars themselves shall be consumed for Sssla.
2329: From the Xengara Nightly Star:
Facing claims that the new Controlled Dead Environment project was being neglected, Dr. Iguanaius answered by asserting that all the empire's energies were being turned toward the stars. "Deuterium Fuel Cells are so near to completion," he said, "that investment in any other project wuld be merely thrown away." At least terraforming itself was not neglected; the plans have arrived from Sssla, and all Xengara's efforts are now being bent to implementing...2331: Captain's log, Consume 1.0:
11.26.2331, en route to Proxima, designated Selia waypoint: We have received a subspace transmission from Sssla, with complete plans to refit our tanks for deuterium, and hints that Nuclear Engines are contemplated for the future in lieu of Irridium. Word also hints of chaos throughout the empire as research is cut short, factory work begun in earnest on Xengara, and our sister ship being built on Sssla reported due to complete next year. I've been ordered to refit my fuel tanks and proceed to Selia the moment we make starfall. It's a great time to be alive._______________
Next: Hitting the Wall
