Birth of the Federation, an AAR, Part 15

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CHAPTER XV: CONTACT!  (FINALLY!)

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A breakthrough in Construction! Phase Transition Bonding. Whatever that is. Oh wait, let’s read the description:

“Phase transition bonding merges two pieces of material by temporarily changing the phase of one item., When the phase distortion is reversed, the two pieces are inextricably merged, and the density of their intersecting volume is doubled.”

This allows for both Industrial Replicators and Type 4 Mass Replicators. Upgrading to newer versions of Mass Replicators can be a very expensive proposition. Well, expensive, in that it takes for-freakin’-ever to do it. This is why having a good, solid agricultural base is so important: you can drag people off of their farms, sometimes kicking and screaming, to working in a factory somewhere. Ah, the choices of an autocracy.

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Uh-oh.

Long-range sensors on the USS Pegasus, one of my Science Vessels, picks up a strange reading in a nearby system. Apparently we have some kind of universal translator, because I can see this anomaly calls itself the “Seeker.” Most likely, this is a minor alien race and not one of the other Big Boys. Looks like we FINALLY found us some aliens! The Pegasus is en route to a neighboring star with a yellow star first, but it would have taken the same amount of time to get there in a direct route, so let’s see if we can get a two-fer!

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Well, that yellow sun system did not have another alien race, but at the far bottom of my Galactic West, I found something called “the Edo Guardian.” Anything called “Guardian” is either a cut-rate comic book Superman rip-off, or something not very nice. In either case, the USS Whats-its-face is probably going to get destroyed when they try to make first contact.

So it looks like on the next turn, we’ll be contactin’ us some aliens!

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Sure enough, that system at my Galactic Northwest has some aliens.

This Turn – number 220 – marks our first official contact! The Terrans, spread across numerous star systems, truly wondered if they were alone in the universe, and this day, everyone realizes that finally, we know –

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– EEESH!

We know that aliens be mighty ugly!

Not only that, but the verdammt bugs destroyed my Science Vessel…which I kinda thought they would. Most minor alien races tend to do stuff like that, especially if they’re predisposed to being hostile, like the Xindi are. If you remember a certain Star Trek TNG episode, you’ll know these bugs are major assholes.

Which doesn’t explain why they’re so friendly. Because, you know, they blew away a peaceful Science Vessel on a mission of exploration.

How do I know they’re friendly? Well…check out the lit-up bars underneath the alien’s name. It’s a range that’s lit halfway up, which indicates they’re Neutral. And ‘neutral’ for the Xindi is downright friendly.

Which means, of course, that I can now throw thousands upon thousands of credits at them to make them MY ally.

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Next up is the Edo Guardian, guarding the…well, the Edo. Remember that forgettable ST:TNG episode from what was it, the first season? Yeah, they make the Federation look positively Satanic. Well, at least I know they won’t blow up my ship.

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Yeah, the Edo are nice for morale-boosting structures. And they’re not as friendly as the Xindi are right now, but that can be rectified by…you guessed it! Massive graft and bribery. Go, Team Democracy!

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So, I t’row a coupla’ thousand creds their way, each o’ their ways, capische? I need to build the Edo up from their “Icy” stance if I’m going to get a Friendship Treaty in with them. The Xindi, even though they’re friendlier, might still be a difficult sell. Lots of credits will always save the day, and the Feds are swimming in them right now, fortunately.

 


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