The Lunar Crisis

The Lunar Crisis was a major **lore** incident early in PKE history, it forever shaped the future of the Empire.

## Event

Early in the year 2312, a citizen of the Pegakitty Empire detected strange signals through a heavily modified ham radio set up in his basement. The signals, which sunderland vaguely like faint screeching noises, were discovered by officials to have originated from the moon of PKE's original homeworld of Catnip. For most of the rest of the year, the government secretly worked toward establishing a moon base to investigate. The operation initially went as planned, until it didn'tTM.

### The Smooze

Unbeknownst to the field researchers, the initial construction zone for the moonbase had previously been occupied by a puddle of purple sludge - henceforth known as "The Smooze". At first there was little indication of any problem - with the exception of the occasional corroded oxygen generator, solar array, or moon buggy. The root cause was left unnoticed until the disappearance of a surface survey team. By then, however, the operatives had achieved their goal: they had discovered the origin of the mysterious signals they were investigating.

### First Contact

In late 2312, one of the operation's excavation teams accidentally broke into a massive chamber hidden just beneath the moon's surface. Within, they found row after row of organic pods, resembling cocoons. In the center was a beacon transmitting a looped message, but it was heavily corroded, so the only noise it transmitted was the screeching which first attracted the PKE's attention.

The team then opened one of the pods, revealing a creature long since lost to legend. It resembled one of the miniature horses that made up most of Catnip's population, but it was insectoid in appearance, and lacked the bright colors of the general populace. The creature, alive but unconscious, was taken back to the base for further study.

### Second Contact

Upon returning, the scientists found their base in a state of disarray. Critical systems had grown unreliable and constantly broke down, and the base had lost communication with the planetside command center. The team's cargo was deposited in the medbay, and the science team quickly joined in the effort to repair the base. The rest of the staff had since discovered that a highly corrosive purple fluid had been working its way through critical base systems, and was growing at a disturbing rate. They had thus far been powerless to stop its advance.

Meanwhile, PKE's star command center found itself swamped with its own problems. They had simultaneously lost contact with every single other space vessel or emplacement they had launched - a small number, at this point - through unknown mechanical failures. It was at this point that Pegakitty Command declared an official state of emergency.

### A Deal with Discord

Back on the moonbase, the on-site engineers and scientists found themselves unable to contain and suppress the growing purple menace. It was at this point that their medical patient decided to wake up. Upon reviewing the situation, the lone bughorse - an individual by the name of Steve - began to panic. Both developments came to the surprise of the research team. As it happened, Steve had prior experience with this threat. For the next hour, he explained the nature of the ooze that was rapidly consuming the Pegakitty moonbase. The sludge, which he called "the Smooze," was a semi-sentient creature that consumed technological components to survive and propagate. He also offered to tell the researchers the Smooze's biggest weakness - in exchange for the safety of his race.

With few other options and no real reason to refuse, the researchers agreed. Steve revealed that in addition to raw materials, the Smooze needed light to grow. This was why it had remained dormant for (apparently) centuries - and why the bugs' transmitter was not totally destroyed. The researchers found this information difficult to act upon, seeing as they no longer had the means to block the sunlight from reaching their base. Thus, they decided to confine Steve to the medical bay, instead electing to wait for help to arrive - which it did.

### PKV Kirishima

Up until this point, the command center on Catnip was in turmoil. Without access to most of its space program, they resorted to desperate measures. The Pegakitty Naval Engineering Corp quickly re-purposed a damaged naval scout ship, the PKV Kirishima, and launched it to the moon to reestablish contact with their lost lunar base. Upon its arrival, the Kirishima's crew found half of a moonbase; the rest of the base had been converted to a pulsating purple goo. After a moment's review, the ship's crew brought the moonbase's temporary residents on board - including Steve - and returned to Catnip.

Unfortunately, during its reentry, the Kirishima hit a glob of the same purple slime, which was in orbit in the location of a Pegakitty communication satellite. The ooze quickly began to spread, at a much faster rate than previously observed, almost immediately attaching itself to and consuming the ship's ventral engines. The unfortunate Kirishima crashlanded into a major city, leaving few survivors, and introducing the Smooze to the world of Catnip.