Imperium 22 - Conclusion

Professor Ssoriad looked over his class with an expression of quiet benevolence. "You will be pleased to hear that we have nearly completed our unit on Stuff That Was Fun When It Happened But Bores Students to Tears Every Year When They Study History. Feeling no need to take any special action in the way of electioneering in 2399, the Human RBO22 elected instead to just trade with their neighbors constantly. Their annual Sakkra trade package increased to 500 BC, and their Darlok trade to 350, while the humans exchanged Improved Industrial Tech 8 and Neutron Pellet Gun technologies to Tyranid for Reduced Industrial Waste 80% and Improved Eco Restoration, respectively and also taught the Darloks to make a Personal Deflector Shield in exchange for Controlled Tundra Environment technology. None of this would give the Humans much benefit, but it would all provide a little, and fear of advanced rivals was literally the very last thing on the collective mind of the RBO22. In spite of a fleet that (after combat losses in the various Centauri battles) consisted of exactly 22 Dscoveries, Humankind had rendered all three dictatorial interstellar emperors irrelevant to the galaxy, with 26 worlds to their rival's eleven combined. The struggle for control of the galaxy was at an end, and the bar graphs from this era can best be described by the four-letter acronym for the purpose of High-Council meetings: Official Verification of an Emperor's Rule."



"O. V. E. R."



"Human scientists developed ion rifles (at "49%" odds...) moments before the election, selecting Anti-Matter Bomb as a future target still without any sign of missiles in the range of possibility. Then, at the council meeting itself, Nazgur even went so far as to vote for humanity. Of course, by then, it was an empty gesture; without firing a shot except in defense of their Centauri colony, the Humans had already conquered the galaxy."



"Holding 25 of 34 votes meant no need of support from anybody, and so the era of imperial squabbling ended."

"Let us join together in a future without strife ... sort of the way the past century has been for like 99% of human beings. Let us unite peace and learning, so that the excitement we all crave need not come from war, but can be drawn from ever-greater discoveries about the nature of our universe and our galaxy!"

Ssoriad added, "And above all, let us study the records of the peaceful Human rise to power, so that we can emulate them should we happen to have the opportunity to control an entire ultra-rich world with minimal effort - and more importantly, so that we can all score well on our unit tests, show them off proudly to our parents, and thereby continue to receive money from home to fund more wild off-campus parties." He smiled indulgently, and let his eyes drift to Ythistra's, bright ruby lines of laughter she seemed to share especially with him. One day, Ssoriad hoped, she would truly emulate humanity, and rise to greatness in the galaxy ... and when she did, he hoped that she would remember and acknowledge what she had learned from her professor of history.

__________

Scoring: To be honest, I think I could have scored a lot higher if I abstained in the election and played the game out all the way to 2500 ... but that would have stopped being fun very quickly! Thus, my final score turns out to depend on whether you count my last-turn tech trades and/or discovery of Ion Rifle on the final interturn. With none of them, (see tech screenshot above) I've got:

(8 in Computers + 8 in Construction + 12 in Force Fields + 18 in Planetology + 13 in Propulsion + 7 in Weapons) / 6 = 11.
If you do count either the Ion Rifle and the last-minute tech trades, then that brings us to:
(8 Comp + 9 Const + 12 FF + 20 Plan + 13 Prop + 12 Weap) / 6 = 12 1/3, which rounds to 12. Counting just one or the other has the same result: (8+9+12+20+13+7)/6 = 11 1/2, which rounds up to 12, as does (8+8+12+18+13+12)/6=11 5/6.
My early-finish bonus for the 2500 score date is 10, since I won the 2400 election (100 years early) so my total score is either 11 + (11+10) = 32 or 12 + (12+10) = 34, depending on whether the last-turn tech is counted. My tie-breaker score is 18 (Planetology, my highest tech level) if we neglect the last-minute tech trades, 20 if we include them. And of course my double-tie-breaker finish date is 2400, with a bloodless Conquest victory! I don't expect to have the highest score - I scored more than one point per decade in the first century, so doing the same in the second, with 26+ developed and increasingly terraformed and RC'ed worlds would be cake - but you never can tell with these things.

Overall, a very interesting game for me, as one-field-only tech spending not only affected the way I handled research spending empire-wide, but forced me to make decisions about which tech I would want next in each field well before I would ever begin research on it. It was also fun balancing my desire to climb the tree as fast as possible (for maximum scoring) against the need for certain important techs to speed the development of my empire. Thanks to the sponsor for a relaxed, intriguing, and thoroughly enjoyable game - and one in which I could play a real Pacifistic Technologist, finally!

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Back to the Front Page

Imperium 22 - Escape Velocity

"From 2372 to 2376, the humans colonized no less than seven star systems. From the vast terran world of Incedius to the rich ice worlds of Nordia and Aquilae; from dead Rotan to little Tau Cygni; from the poor, lush jungles of Regulus to the lifeless husk of Romulas, the humans raised their flags across the galaxy, triggering two growth warnings from GNN in the course of just four years."



"Unfortunately however, the other imperial leaders' preparations for a merger with the mighty human empire were as slow and inefficient as their efforts at expansion. The galactic election triggered by the humans' most recent colonies saw fully half the available votes in human hands, and only half of the remainder cast by Tyranid, but as the Darlok and Alkari emperors abstained, the results were indecisive, forcing the Human empire to wait decades more to unite the galaxy. The actions of the Darloks and Alkari were especially disappointing to the human foreign minister (whose name, by an extraordinary coincidence, also happened to be Ref) who firmly believed that had the human empire been ruled by an arbitrary tyrant like the other peoples of the galaxy, instead of by the RBO22, the aliens would inevitably have voted for the Humans they knew over the Sakkra they did not. Nonetheless, he put the point behind him and continued his diplomatic work across the galaxy ... only to face still greater disappointment the very next year."



"Just as the Humans lost an interstellar ship for the first time in their history - the Guardian was still active at the time, and this was the date of the Discovery 12's arrival at the Orion system - and incidentally claimed the rich, dead world of Phyco, their eighth new colony in six years, they also witnessed Skylord getting his merging techniques exactly backward, breaking his non-aggression pact just two years after it was made. Still scrambling to repair his shambles of a diplomatic record, the Human foreign minister would approach Tyranid about technology exchange two years later, but when the chairman of the RBO-22 rejected his suggestion to acquire Deep Space Scanner for the Humans' new Inertial Stabilizer and he accidentally accepted it instead, Foreign Minister Ref had no choice but to resign his post in disgrace. (His replacement, curiously enough, was also named Ref.)

"Fortunately for humankind, in spite of continued political mismanagement of the usual variety, their research program was progressing rapidly. Just after stabilizers' completion at a reported '13%," the following technical report was posted on the new Sublight Drives research project, in the very year of its inception, 2378:"



"The empire prioritized those engines heavily, but it wouldn't be long before even this research rate was eclipsed; the artifacts world of Neptunus wasn't even contributing yet! The new drives were soon ready for installation, and 2383 saw the selection of Fusion Drives as the next Human propulsion project, even as the empire switched research gears, returning to long-neglected planetology. Success followed success until 2385, shortly after the colonization of rich Artemis in the far galactic north, GNN reported what it conceived to be a major event in the galaxy. Apparently a devotee of the philosophy that the rich [b]should[/b] always get richer, a debauched itinerant merchant gave some 800 BC away to the Human empire, prompting Chairman Ref to remark, 'Now, that's just unnecessary.'

"Humankind's latest interstellar outpost would be formed on the fertile slopes of Hyboria in 2387, followed one year later by the development of soil enrichment techniques for making all the other habitable worlds in the empire equally fertile colonies. It was also at this time that Skylord elected to declare war on humanity. Now, I have an exercise for the class. I will show you a galactic map from the following year, 2389, just after the Humans established a new colony at Thrax, the poor world in the far northwestern corner of the galaxy. Your task is to tell me whether Skylord's move was wise, clever, or unspeakably foolhardy. It might be difficult to distinguish some of the colors, so I have taken the liberty of circling the Alkari empire for you."



Virtually the entire class began to giggle, then to chuckle, then to dissolve in peals of helpless laughter. "Go get 'em, Skylord!" cried Airknight, apparently slightly unclear on the concept of galactic history. "It's no fair from them to have 25 or whatever times as many worlds as you! Show them they can't get away with that kind of thing!"

Professor Ssoriad nodded sagely. "Let us see how successfully he could perpetrate his war. Bear in mind that the following year would see the Human development of still cheaper factories, and their selecton of Improved Industrial Tech 7 simply because they felt that auto-repair for their ships, while nice, would never be needed. They did drop construction research to go for shields again, of course, but only to get the things out of the way. Then, in 2391, Centauri would experience the first actual interstellar attack in Human history. The planet's missile bases and Screen 3.0 defensive fighters found themselves up against ... three Alkari Foxbat laser fighters. The humans didn't even bother firing before the Foxbats' retreat. Unfortunately for their peaceful intentions however, the following year saw the arrival of a much more significant fleet."



"With twenty-one heavy lasers divided among their cruisers and colony ships, the Alkari were actually capable of harming the planet's bases, and thanks to their incredibly acrobatic pilots, the planet's old nuclear missile bases just couldn't destroy them quickly enough to keep them away. Thus, the mighty Alkari warfleet was able to destroy two of Centauri's bases ... two of three ... at a small, single world at the edge of the human empire. The survivors of the Alkari fleet, as its retreating remnants limped away, of course celebrated a victory, while Human scientists, finished (at "50%" - meaning 100% - odds) their personal shield project, and continued to ignore Skylord completely, speculating instead on the possibility of a Class V Planetary Shield while they started actual research into computer technology. Human ECM capabilities would double two years later, also at a '50%' chance, with an Improved Space Scanner ready to fall by the wayside in favor of the NPG project that would be finished (at "52%" because Science Minister Takahashi Villanueva - inexplicably nicknamed Ref - had ceased to even care about wasteful overspending) in 2396. In the meantime, Alkari forces continued to attack Centauri; a flock of laser fighters fled its bases again in 2395, and the rest of the Alkari fleet met five bases the following year, destroying none before its last limping colony ship followed the fighters in retreat, moments before the Human scientists' decision to progress forward with an Ion Rifle for lack of any hope of developing missile technology. Of course, its actual pursuit would be delayed in favor of designs for a planetary shield, completed (again at "50%," as research teams continued to never catch a break) in 2398 to open the way to a Repulsor Beam. With the Humans already established as the defacto leaders of the galaxy, there was nothing left to do but engage ine one last round of diplomacy."

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Next: Conclusion

Imperium 22 - Disturbing the Peace

"We return to the Human empire in a time of intense activity, with the people of Sol about to settle the steppe world of Guradas, bringing their civillian population nearer than ever to Alkari space, while much of their settlement and scouting effort continued north through the heart of the galaxy. The humans' forward base in their race to control that region would be founded three years after Guradas, at the rich, barren world of Volantis, in 2357, even as their Discoveries, using Denubius for a fuel base, encountered a series of incredibly valuable worlds ... all of which the humans were convinced they would one day possess!"



"GNN certainly found the 12th human star system news-worthy, but most intriguing of all for humanity was the situation at Neptunus: A minimally but unquestionably habitable world dotted with the ruins of Orion-era cities, that prompted one of the most famous speeches ever made by Chairman Ref of the Twenty Two:"

Buh ... guh ... um ... wow. Yeah. Gimmegimmegimmegimmegimme!

Nodding sagely, Ssoriad continued, "A Darlok Scout departed the system as soon as the humans' Discovery arrived, presumably bringing some looted technological secrets back to the Darlok emperor, and giving the humans reason to guess the location of the Darlok homeworld, and to infer the shapeshifting people's possession of at least Deuterium and probably Irridium Fuel Cells - all of which was confirmed almost immediately, as Nazgur established a connection with the Volantis relay station, warning humankind to stay clear of Darlok territory."

Smiling warmly at Ythistra, Ssoriad continued, "Of course, in spite of their then-emperor's xenophobic bluster, the Darloks were at heart a wise and empathetic people, whose culture placed a heavy emphasis on diplomacy, and they gladly embraced the opportunity to trade with humankind, beginning with 150 BC of annual trade, and continuing with an exchange of what at the time was truly advanced technology."



"Deuterium Fuel Cells, acquired in exchange for Improved Terraforming +20, immediately became the Human state of the art, and would allow a Pioneer to divert to Neptunus immediately. The Darloks would be able in the meantime to increase the population of every world in their empire significantly, a great boon to any species. The Humans established their Sakkra NAP in the same year, establishing a safe front in the southwest, little knowing that the next year would open up yet another front for conflict or diplomacy: Out of the blue, just as a Pioneer arrived at Centauri, an Alkari fleet, undetected until that very moment, arrived at the same world - the first such fleet to be seen by human forces outside the colony ships and battle cruiser that appeared years before at Altair. With no armed human ships in the area (indeed, with no armed ships or bases anywhere in the entire empire) theater commander Elsa Dobbs held her breath as the local Discovery's and newly-arrived Pioneer's scanners revealed ... a single ... unescorted ... Scout. It departed immediately. 'All right,' Dobbs was said to remark, 'Let's just claim that world then, shall we?'

"Doing so not only showed no other threat in the area, but prompted Emperor Skylord of the Alkari to finally open communications with RBO22, with a friendly warning that anyone entering Alkari space would be destroyed on sight. Upon informing the xenophobic militarist that there were no human plans to approach his single star, the human Minister of Commerce, coincidentally named Ref, was able to persuade Skylord to accept a trade package amounting to 75 BC per anum, the most that the one-planet Alkari empire could bear."



"Darlok and Alkari space are both visible here as the Humans first came to know them, with ship positions as of 2357 but up-to-date colony reports from 2358 when humankind first established communication with the Alkari. The empty stars around them however would not long remain empty. Not far southwest of this region, the humans would claim Kakata in 2361, just as their scouting reports from around the galaxy culminated in the discovery of the jungle world Dunatis, practically on top of Darlok space. On receiving the report, Chairman Ref of the RBO22 said, 'You've got to be kidding me. Where has Nazgur been?!' With the terran world of Incedius spotted, likewise still available for colonization, just beyond Kakata, the Chairman could only say, 'Okay, this is getting ridiculous,' but the Darloks fortunately also chose that moment to finally decide they wanted Dunatis after all."

"We are detecting a Darlok Colony Ship and Scorpion destroyer escort on approach to Dunatis 3. Hailing ... hailing ... okay, response coming in:"
"Attention, Human Discovery. We bear a message from our emperor: We claim this world. We claim this system. Depart or be destroyed."
"You read that, Houston? Both ships are still advancing. Even the colony ship appears to be armed. Request permission to leave the system."
"Permission granted, Discovery 13. We were shocked to find that world still open anyway; no reason to stand in the way of what's rightfully theirs."
"Roger that, Houston. Plus, this way, I don't get blown to smithereens."

"As you can see, the Darloks would also colonize Paranar with a large fleet in 2367 and prevent the just-arriving Discovery from scouting any of its planets, just four years after forming their Dunatis colony. Undisturbed, recognizing both worlds as clearly Darlok property, the Humans continued their voyages of Discovery," the professor smirked very slightly, "scouting nearly every star in the galaxy, notably including poor Regulus in the northwest, which prevented the waste of the Pioneer that had been tentatively earmarked for Dunatis when it was built, 'in case the Darloks turn out not to want that world after all.'

"Technological discovery continued as well, with Human agents reporting that the Sakkra had learned not only how to settle ecologically dead worlds, but a new, state-of-the-art "death spore" technology as well. Thus, as soon as the project finally completed in 2368 - the heavily understated odds of discovery had climbed all the way to "26%" - the RBO22 exchanged Enhanced Eco Restoration for Sakkra Controlled Dead Environment technoloy. The humans only saved a few years of research this way, as well as getting a few new colonies up to speed sooner, while the Sakkra benefited immensely, but the Twenty-Two considered it an acceptible exchange: Given the state of their own enormous and growing empire, they had no fear of their 'pacifist buddies.' The next human planetology project would be Soil Enrichment, but this would be delayed for some years while human scientists played catch-up in a series of fields that had long been neglected due to the continuing political hot-button research priorities.



Human electrical engineers - disappointed to see no other choices - would begin work on ECM Jammer Mark II the very next year, thanks to the immediate completion of the first generation version of the same technology, at a reported "29%" chance, even as a Pioneer was finally forming the new Neptunus research colony - and the first pair of Vitality 1 colony ships were complete, ready to bring life to lifeless worlds. Having traded for it, the humans intended to make swift use of Controlled Dead Environment technology. A total of five Vitalities would be built by the end of 2371, just three years after their construction became a possibility. As it happened, the completion of the fifth coincided with the development of hand laser technology (at a '50%' chance - meaning it was literally guaranteed) and a proclamation that the next weapons research project would be Defense Minister Ref's beloved Neutron Pellet Gun technology, after a suitable delay to address shortcomings in other fields of research. They would blow through deflector shield research over the next two years (with success in 2373 at odds actually far better than the reported "28%") and with their sights set on a Personal Deflector Shield, with an economy that had just landed three different technologies from scratch in the course of just five years, the Humans ... just ... kept ... on ... growing."

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Next: Escape Velocity

Imperium 22 - Space Race

"When we left the human empire last time, it was beginning to seriously take off, from the development of Hydrogen cells in 2328 - at supposed odds of '7%' - to the completion of Stalazian infrastructure in 2331, to a report the following year from the GNN droid that the humans already led the galaxy in population. In spite of the RBO22's collective disappointment in Inertial Stabilizer as a follow-up project to hydrogen cells - they had hoped to be able to study nuclear engines or at least irridium fuel - things were looking up for the Humans as they started to heavily invest in terraforming technology. The discovery of barren Laan and poor but vast, terran Denubius in this period also led the humans to believe that they would one day inherit the galaxy. Nevertheless, it soon became clear that they were not the only galactic power!"



"Curiously enough, the first encounter between Humans and Alkari occurred in orbit above Altair itself in 2333, where a single Discovery, unable to communicate, was forced to flee from a pair of missile bases and a Wareagle cruiser. At the same time, another Discovery was sending home reports of a habitable planet in the Kakata system in a nearby region of space, while yet another met an unarmed Sakkra Colony Ship above Rha - a key star for the expansion of both empires. Members of the RBO22 were confident that they could claim that star at least momentarily before the Sakkra could get an armed fleet into the region, as long as Kronos became a Human star, but were less sanguine about actually holding the world - or even planting a flag on Kronos itself, an important 4-parsec stepping stone star that had briefly been visited by another Sakkra colony ship some five years before. According to archived footage of their meetings, the Twenty Two were prepared to cede Kronos to a possible Sakkra invasion so long as human colonists were able to plant their flag in the system - along with a refueling station - for one or two years. Rha, however, they could not afford to yield at all. All the human plans for westward and northward expansion relied on holding Rha - and on claiming Kronos for at least those one or two years. And so in 2336, with one Pioneer 1.0 colony ship half way to Kronos from Stalaz, another just completed and about to head south, positioning itself to depart for another nearby star when and if the Kronos fuel base was complete, and a third in production to claim Rha, the human leaders received word that a second Sakkra fleet had arrived at Kronos. The human race held its collective breath ... and received word back from Kronos: The Sakkra ship was another unarmed civillian."

"All right, Houston, the fuel base, scanners, and transmission relays are now established. We can see the retreating Sakkra Colony Ship still en route back to Sssla, and our new receiver dishes are picking up signals from four different worlds similar to those emitted by the Sakkra Scout and Colony Ship fleets we've seen. We're getting enough signals here that it should be trivial to get translations going shortly."
"That's excellent news, Kronos Base. Just keep relaying the Sakkra transmissions our way; we'll put our best teams to work on them immediately."

"Relief and celebration spread across Sol, Vulcan, and Stalaz as the Kronos Bridge colony was founded in 2338. Better still, before the year was out, lines of communication were finally opened with the Sakkra crown and its four star systems - exactly the same number as humankind's. Trade relations were established at once between the two empires, to the tune of 100 BC, with no sign of danger for the Kronos colony. Parity between the two southern empires could not last however, and the Humans were determined that they would not be left behind. Thanks to the Kronos Bridge Colony, two Pioneers, already complete, would soon proceed to vast Maalor in the south and the disputed keystone star of Rha, while human scientists worked to make room for still more people at all their already-impressive stars."



"One year after the construction of humankind's fourth Pioneer, their scientists managed to develop advanced terraforming techniques, leaving the RBO22 with yet another trying choice. At least one of the Twenty Two spoke up for almost every course: Going back for cheap ecological improvements en route to a major toxic-world control project made sense to some, and dead environment research would have quickly allowed the humans to claim the rich tundra world at nearby Aquilae, but the consensus in the end was for the quickest possible means of advancing the state of the art, since it also would provide the greatest improvement in waste cleanup: Enhanced Eco Restoration technology. Work was to begin after a quick detour into Construction research, with a simple Improved Industrial Tech 9 project selected for the purpose the following year, since with enhanced eco in the queue, the effects of slightly reduced factory waste products would be relatively negligible - just one BC of cleanup for every 25 factories once the cleanup tech was ready."

Ssoriad cleared his throat slightly. "I judge by the number of eyes I see glazing over that I have strayed into dangerous ground: It seems that in spite of the progress made in our education system, some people still can't stand to deal with numbers more precise than integers or larger than about three. I'll let your mathematics professors lose sleep over that one. In this class, please just remember the new colony plans I mentioned. When they both came to fruition at once in 2342, even GNN took notice of the simulcolonies."



"Soon thereafter, with a colony founded at the lush ocean world of Esper in 2345 as a stepping stone to the east, and another Pioneer or apollo colony ship rolling off the docks at Stalaz virtually every year, the Humans were assuming a leading role in the galaxy, and the celebratory mood in their empire was only dulled when a 2346 GNN report placed them third - ahead of only the Darloks, with the Sakkra holding a definitive lead - in technological development in the galaxy. The discovery of a rich, dead world at Phyco the following year led to further second-guessing of the RBO22's technological policies, but did not affect the real source of the problem: The politically-motivated one-project mentality. Still, the atmosphere was jubilant in these years of reckless expansion, the more so as the next GNN report, in 2351, placed the humans first in production across the galaxy. The timing could not have been better, as the technological news remained ... iffy. A construction tech breakthrough the previous year at under-reported odds of '22%' had led the way only toward nearly-redundant Improved Industrial Tech 8, and the new year's tiny research budget, abandoning construction for an exploratory investment in computer technology, revealed that ECM Jammer Mark I was the only possibility. Other exploratory investments would be pursued for the next two years, just to get them out of the way, revealing the possibility of Class II Deflector Shields, the shock of the century, and Hand Lasers, which prompted the chair of the RBO22 to pronounce, 'Good news! Now, let's quit fooling around, and start investing in Enhanced Eco, finally!' The humans suited action to word, pouring over 400 BC per year into the project for several years running to get the necessary labs and research infrastructure into place."



"Of course, the humans also had other sources of technological development: While also doubling the value of their trade package in 2353, just after establishing critical colonies at Denubius and Toranor, humankind worked with Sakkra scientists to exchange obsolete technologies, acquiring the secrets of Improved Terraforming +10 in return for Hydrogen Fuel Cells (Range 4), thereby (slightly) improving colony miniaturization and imperial productivity. These gestures of friendship were well received by the saurian people whom the humans had taken to calling "our pacifist buddies," and a formal Non-Aggression Pact between them, offered thanks to the discovery of massive radiation levels at the nebula star of Klystron, was just four years away. Yet other, less peace-loving emperors were about to make their appearance to the human race, and to demonstrate what could be done against them with armed warships and advanced range technology!"

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Next: Disturbing the Peace

Imperium 22 - One-Track Mind

Casually strolling toward the front of the class, Professor Ssoriad called to Ariela, "Please come down from the rafters and take your seat. I prefer not to crane my neck when I am speaking." A soft wave of giggles swept over the classroom as Ariela executed a mid-air somersault and swooped down to her assigned perch. As the class and unit title lit up in holoprojection, the professor turned to face his students and drummed his claws on the lectern. "I realize that most of you regard post-Interdict Human history as the least exciting possible subject in the galaxy, even behind the unit on the Orion Transcension that we just completed." Seeing mostly tacit agreement, he glanced down at Ythistra, one of the students in the front row, and one of his personal favorites - the kind of bright student who loved learning and was a delight to teach. As she caught his gaze with her bright, kind eyes, narrowed to happy little ruby slits glowing with interest and enthusiasm, she briefly assumed the face of a famous human officer of the early post-Interdict era, and winked - long human lashes and smooth human eyelid shuttering one of her warm, brown human eyes for just an instant - before resuming her natural form of semi-corporeal darkness inside her cloak. The professor smiled - a barely visible shifting of the blue-green scales around the corners of his mouth - and continued to the class at large, "Nevertheless, if you can bring yourselves to pay at least a modicum of attention, I think you will find yourselves surprised. The actions of humankind in this period, led by their simply-named Ruling Body Of 22, not only carry dull and pedantic lessons that still apply to us today even as they precipitated the shape of the modern galaxy - they are also occasionally ridiculous enough to be good for a laugh or three."

Most of the class looked on mistrustfully as Professor Ssoriad initiated the lesson's first holosequence, but his eyes found Ythistra again, and she was beaming.



"As two or three of you might reluctantly remember from previous units, once the hyperspace interdictor field began to waver and collapse, apparently by Orion design, finally failing altogether precisely in the year Post-Transcension 2300, every sentient species in the galaxy was scrambling to prepare colony and scout ships and their first hyperspacial factories. Outnumbered and outproduced by every other species, the Humans were further crippled by their politically-driven science program, which caused the vast majority of research projects to fall by the wayside while a single politically-charged program alone received funding. Nevertheless, they managed to assemble three ships, which as you can see above proceeded toward the galactic east. The green star nearest Sol was in some ways a more attractive option than the red star they planned as their first colony, but it was believed at the time that a refueling base further from home would be of greater value, opening more of the galaxy to the prototype Scouts already completed and the Discovery scouts about to roll off the assembly lines to follow them. In any case, it was hoped that one of the first Discoveries built could visit that green star moments before the formation of the red star's colony, while the Scouts continued east to scout in that direction as quickly as possible ... humanly." The professor smiled slightly. "Sadly, the Houston Space Command Center was so eager for those eastern reports, they completely forgot to actually send any Discoveries to the green star until it was clearly too late for this plan, thus delaying human progress considerably."

"We've re-entered Realspace; trans-spacial communicators should now be working again. Do you read me, Houston?"
"Loud and clear, Colony One. It's good to hear your voice again."
"Looks like we made the wrong call, Houston. Our scans are all coming back flat negative for metallics."
"Copy that, Captain. Are you sure they're functioning correctly?"
"Affirmative. We dropped a probe to the ocean floor alongside one of the islands and our scans read it perfectly. Even dropped a burrower to see if the soil was interfering. The only accessible metals are the ones we're bringing in. The planet's mostly water, frankly. Samples all return as non-poisonous however, and there's an oxygen atmosphere, with enough islands dotting the surface to support agri for 70 million people. If I may say so, sir ... it looks beautiful down there."
"Understood. Stand by for your orders."
...
"All right, Captain, we're going to ask you to touch down and form a colony. Long-term, the absence of metals will be a problem, but better to get that fuel base up and get our first extra-solar colony started now than wait for years in transit. That planet should be fine for agriculture and early research anyway. We're calling the star system Vulcan. May you live long and prosper."
"Thank you, Houston. Preparing for planetfall now. Speaking privately, I think you made the right decision here. Lieutenant Rissa Shale has been asking the crew for help designing bikinis for her off days on the beaches, and if we couldn't land on this island paradise, I might have had a mutiny on my hands."
"Let's keep the tone serious, Captain. We ... wait, Lieutenant Shale? *Ahem* Well, on a completely unrelated note, please ask your ship's holographer to send back trimensional images of your officers during their liesure time on the surface for ... um ... publicity reasons."

Ssural, a Sakkra student in the first row, blinking in confusion, asked, "Professor? What's a bikini?"
Her eyes shining innocently, Ythistra raised her hand - well, her glove - and when called upon, answered with a look that mocked naivete to its roots, "It's an atoll in the Pacific Ocean of Sol 3, where the Human people conducted many of their earliest nuclear weapons tests." She momentarily assumed Lieutenant Rissa Shale's hypnotically beautiful visage, and gave Ssural the lieutenant's trademark thumbs-up grin.
"Very good," Professor Ssoriad answered, with a little smirk betraying his deadpan voice. "I see you remember your Sol system history."



Returning to the holodisplay, Ssoriad explained, "When a Discovery finally managed to reach it in 2305, the green star of Stalaz forever changed the course of Human history. Colonizing Vulcan turned out to have been their best course after all, but the barren world of Stalaz 2, uninhabitable with then-current human technology, contained such enormous mineral riches that high-level planetology research became priority one back on Sol 3. By 2306, when the possibility of Controlled Barren Environment research was first recognized, every ounce of the empire's productivity was bent on its discovery, even at the expense of infrastructure development and invaluable improvements envisioned for the humans' ecological restoration techniques. Indeed, factory construction on Sol 3 would not resume for years, as even with adequate Barren-specific research labs assembled, and research funding therefore reduced to a sane and sustainable (though steadily increasing) rate, the human home system only turned its remaining efforts to the assembly of a new modular ship, to carry a barren-ready colony base across the stars ... once the technology for such a base could be devised, at least...."

Ariela twittered to herself and rolled her eyes. "Typical Humans. Start building a ship before they even know how to finish it!"

Ssural chuckled uncertainly, then leaned over to whisper to Ythistra, "Say ... what does 'modular' mean?"



With a pitying glance at both of them, Ssoriad continued, "Here we see the galaxy as the Humans knew it in the year 2311, with a Scout or Discovery in orbit above every star within 6 parsecs of Vulcan or Sol, three years after their first encounter with another species. The Discovery and Sakkra Scout that met in the Kronos system were unable to establish conventional communications, but the Scout departed for a debriefing in Sakkra space - as those of you who failed to sleep through unit three may vaguely recall, it was the Sakkra's first contact too - while the Discovery remained to examine the poor world of Kronos IV and retain a presence in the system, where it was hoped that further attempts at communication might yet succeed. This hope would not prove vain, as we shall see. In the meantime, a network of 4-parsec paths had been discovered between the habitable stars of the southern galaxy, already establishing the post-Stalaz phase of human colonization strategy. This was cinched by the huge, fertile world of Toranor 2 in 2311, a world which led Commander Swain of the Discovery 8 to utter the immortal words, 'Holy cow.'"

Ssural quaveringly raised his claw, and glancing at him, the professor explained, "A female four-legged domesticated ruminant native to Sol 3," leaving Ssural precisely nowhere.

"With holes in it," Skyler added helpfully.



With a mostly-futile attempt to direct the class' mirthful attention back to the holodisplay, Professor Ssoriad continued, "Controlled Barren bases finally became a reality in 2319, at reported odds of '17%' - human scientists acknowledged only half the actual chances of a breakthrough each year, as was their universal habit for political reasons, and considering the amount of time it had been maturing with chances growing every year, the overall liklihood of research completing by the time it did was actually around 80%. By a fortunate coincidence, the modular ship being built at Sol was also ready to be fitted with its barren base the same year that the prototype was ready, so that the first and only Apollo 1.0 colony ship ever built at Sol could be completed in 2320."

A brief review about human mythology, the Humans' first visit to their homeworld's lone moon, and that moon's utility as a testing ground for the Humans' barren-world colonial life-support systems was required before Professor Ssoriad could continue, "A vital need remained for ecological restoration, but it was delayed once more, this time in favor of ImprovedTerraforming +20 technology. Sadly, funding for even this project could not yet commence, as the political tide, responding to Operation Stalaz and the 4-parsec paths among the stars, urged that Propulsion research begin instead, which beginning in 2320 would focus on developing Hydrogen Fuel Cells (Range 4) rather than deuterium. "At the same time, the human imperial tax rate climbed to unprecedented levels. These taxes would cost the humans over 40 BC in production over the two years in which they continued, but the result was no less than 6 extra factories soon completed on Stalaz, each generating an average of 1.5 BC per year toward still more factories. Anyone who has taken Professor Yeep-eep's economics class has already had the power of compound interest pounded into their skulls quite thoroughly, and the process of Stalaz's development was further helped along by the immediate emigration of no less than 38 million colonists from Sol 3 - and by further reserves garnered from the scrapping of humankind's old Scout ships soon thereafter, as those starships were replaced with Discoveries. The Human 'Operation Stalaz' was well underway, and the race was on with the Sakkra to claim the stars that - at first unbeknownst to either - both races already considered their own."

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Next: Space Race