Episode 2

With Ortus Spaceport finally built, humanity begins its first, cautious steps towards a future among the stars.

## Opening Interlude

*The Science Council debates the merits of the Expanse Project's exploration protocol. Lachinov expresses doubts over the exploration program but is opposed by the rest of the council, especially Tanwar. When Lachinov brings up the possibility of funneling resources towards repairing the portal and trying to get back through it to Earth instead to search for possible survivors of the cataclysm, they briefly discuss their simulations of what must have happened to the Earth after the Planetoid impacted.*

*Lachinov still opposes the exploration aspect of the Expanse Project, saying that those resources should be directed towards other projects. However, recognizing that he is outnumbered and has the full weight of the Innovation Party against him, he returns to his work to help the project go as smoothly as possible.*

*Also in that meeting, the Science Council decides on the commander for CSV* Tesla*, the science ship that is being built at Ortus spaceport as they speak. Tanwar says that Shen Kuo is the best choice for the job in spite of his criminal record, and, despite some grumbling from Lachinov, the Council agrees. Roman Poniewski says he will "make the call".*

## *Tesla's* Maiden Voyage

Under the command of Commander Shen Kuo, CSV *Tesla* leaves Ortus spaceport and heads for toxic-cloud-veiled the moon of Ortus, Schimmel's World, to perform its first-ever survey operation and run final tests and diagnostics of the vessel's sensor arrays.

Schimmel's World is surveyed, and the scans reveal the presence of a thriving ecosystem and gigantic dragon-like flying apex predators hidden beneath the clouds, telling them for certain that they are indeed living in a galaxy brimming with life, even in places where such life seems impossible. *Tesla* then sets off on a year-long survey mission of the entire Aasha system, both to get data on the astral bodies in the system and on the psychological reactions of the crew to long periods of isolation and confinement within a spacecraft - data that will be invaluable if they plan on building a spacefaring society.

Meanwhile, the population of the Ortus Council of Nations is excited by the discovery of life off of Ortus, in spite of the terrifying draconic form that it may take.

CSV *Developer,* of the class of the same name, is launched, becoming the OCN's first construction ship and getting to work on setting up infrastructure across the Aasha system.

Doctor Poniewski introduces administrative AI, which will improve the efficiency of all aspects of bueaucracy, but especially the research being conducted by the Science Council.

As the *Tesla* continues its system survey, it quickly becomes clear that the Aasha system was once home to a civilization of some sort, before being wiped out, either by a single immense cataclysm or a series of smaller ones. Ancient ruins dot the surfaces of some of the alarmingly large number of toxic and hothouse worlds that fill the system, and the innermost asteroid belt turns out to be the remnants of a shattered world that once supported at least simple life, possibly more.

The mission wraps up, with Rhea being the last body in the Aasha system to be surveyed, and *Tesla* returns home.

### Notable Surveyed Objects

Schimmel's World - underground ecosystems, titanic predators; toxic world.

Aasha - no notable features.

F-29-NY1K - anomaly detected and investigated; discovered to be the remnant of a destroyed habitable planet.

St. Knatchbull - mineral-rich cave systems; hothouse world.

Smitheus - thin atmosphere; barren world.

Acrisia - thin atmosphere, irradiated, surreal landscapes; barren world.

Nexon - anomaly detected: buildings on the surface; ignored for now; hothouse world.

Lockney - unstable tectonics; hothouse world.

Tartessos - decaying structures, colossal cliffs; toxic world.

Solaria - Hydrogen mist, extensive cave system; frozen world.

Mullineux - Violent thunderstorms; gas giant.

Rhea - Cryogeysers, flat terrain; barren world.

## Middle Interlude

*Poniewski* *calls Lachinov in the middle of the night, drunk, to tell him about a new and sudden breakthrough he's had on a project that Lachinov had helped him with the on early stages, but which he had assumed was unlikely to go anywhere. When he tested his new contraption and discovered that it actually worked, he was so excited about it that he was unable to wait until morning to tell Lachinov about it.*

*Poniewski demonstrates his project, a prototype wormhole generator, by opening a portal between his subterranean lab and Lachiov's front lawn and tossing a bottle of beer into the garden from over 300 kilometers away.*

## A Galaxy of Possibilities

CSV *Developer* sets off to the outer system to construct an upscaled version of Poniewski's wormhole device a safe distance away from any planets, as it turns out that activating it in large gravity wells is extremely dangerous, and Poniewski is lucky not to have caused a disaster with his initial tests and demonstrations. With a sufficient energy supply, this station will grant the OCN the ability to send its ships to other stars in a comparatively tiny amount of time.

Mahu zooms out to the galactic map for the first time and shows the remarkably small galaxy humanity has found itself in after the Exodus - only around 1000 stars, compared to, as he points out, the 100 to 400 billion stars of the Milky Way.

The OCN has chosen the nearby star Rammas and its two orbiting celestial bodies as the perfect location for the shakedown run of the Aasha Relay Station, since it is close enough that Ortus Spaceport's own sensors have been able to run preliminary observation of the system, and small enough that the test mission will be fairly short, allowing the science ship sent through the wormhole to return quickly with data.

Tanwar's team finishes a complete mapping of the human genome, and genetic treatments begin to be introduced to the general public. She also puts forward eventual tentative plans for fixing certain "inefficiencies" in the human body.

The OCN announces an official economic and cultural push to focus on **Discovery**, channeling public enthusiasm for the exploration of the galaxy into a set of programs that will aid in the efforts of the Science Council, its associates, and its exploratory vessels.

Lachinov and his team finish developing powered exoskeletons, which should help with mining operations by increasing the lifting capacity of workers, as well as having obvious combat applications. After the party celebrating his success, he is given orders to begin working on the ability to colonize worlds and bodies that aren't strictly habitable in the traditional sense, spurred on by public disappointment in the lack of any real candidates for easy colonization in the Aasha system.

A laser-armed Akula-class corvette is produced at Ortus spaceport to become a system patrol force, becoming the first vessel in Task Force Manticore. The OCN holds a public contest to name the vessel, the first armed spaceship to be constructed by humanity since the Exodus. It is placed under the command of Admiral Shu Lin, who made a name for herself as a scout and sensor officer before entering the command branch of the newly-formed OCN fleet. She is chosen for precisely this reason, as Task Force Manticore is expected to serve, first and foremost, as a scouting and patrol fleet.

The Aasha Wormhole Station is completed, and CSV *Tesla*waits as a wormhole to the Rammas system slowly forms, stabilizes, calibrates and adjusts its calculations. The Akula-class corvette - CSV Spitfire - waits nearby in case the science ship needs assistance.

## Ending Interlude

*Shen Kuo* *and the crew of CSV* Tesla *prepares to travel through the wormhole and discuss the logistics of surveying the system on the other side. They all are dealing with stress and nerves at being aboard the first human spacecraft to ever travel through a wormhole, and nervous tics and irritability are on full display on the bridge, especially among people near windows where they're able to see the wormhole itself. The engineer in particular, Frieda Reiter, is especially nervous due to her inability to understand how exactly the wormhole works.*

*Kuo gives a brief summary of what he knows of wormhole technology to help calm her nerves, focusing on the fluidity and permeability of spacetime and distance rather than on technical specifics, since, not being part of the team that helped Poniewski develop the technology, he doesn't know most of those specifics himself.*

*All systems report in green, and the wormhole is deemed stable. Kuo voices his vote of confidence in his crew and then, without further ceremony, CSV Tesla moves forward and into the wormhole.*

*Somewhere, far across the multiverse, behind veils and curtains formed of space and time and incomprehensible quantum events, in a place made up of raw, raging energy and dimensional vortexes, something ancient, something eternally hungry, something monstrous and powerful beyond imagining stirs in its slumber, turns its consciousness towards that faraway universe, and listens.*

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z13quB3GzPI
2. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=3m32s
3. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=5m12s
4. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=9m32s
5. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=10m7s
6. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=6m19s
7. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=6m34s
8. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=15m19s
9. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=18m46s
10. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=19m20s
11. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=21m15s
12. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=27m1s
13. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=29m31s
14. ↑ https://youtu.be/z13quB3GzPI?t=30m17s