EIRA Institute (Faction)

## Extraterrestrial Intelligence Research Administration

EIRA Logo

The **Extraterrestrial Intelligence Research Administration**, also known as the **EIRA Institute**, is a covert research branch of the United Federation, founded in the aftermath of the Martian Independence War after the discovery of extraterrestrial technology once under the ownership of the Democracy of Mars (DEMA), which created Einstein-rosen bridges that allowed DEMA forces to evade Federation blockades.

Due to it's nature, EIRA was known for being majorly involved in the initial stages of the **First Galactic War** for inadvertedly drawing the Sylon Collective into war with the Human race by collecting multiple of it's technologies and reverse-engineering them to allow breakthroughs and advancements. EIRA is also mostly credited by advancements such as the KEIKO Sentry, the Crow superiority fighter, the Fusion Reactor and wormhole generators such as the Bifrost Bridge.

## History

### Founding Background

The founding of the EIRA Institute is directly related to the final confrontation of the Martian Independence War at the Battle of Phobos, on which the United Federation Navy established a blockade to intercept and capture the fleeing members of the collapsed Democracy of Mars (DEMA), in particular Herwig Eizenkot, the Director-General of the revolting force.  However, unknown to the Federal Navy and High Command, the escaping leadership had activated an unknown technology discovered in Mars, that created an artificial Einstein-Rosen bridge, a wormhole, which allowed Eizenkot and the DEMA leadership to totally evade the Federation blockades and escape to the fringe regions.  However, while the leadership escaped, the DEMA agents responsible for the 'wormhole device' could not retreat in time from the intercepting Federation strike teams, nor be able to sabotage the device to prevent it's capture.

As the device was taken and secured by the Federation Navy, initial scientific analysis indeed confirmed it to be of an entirely unknown origin and manufacture, being considered the first factual discovery of an extraterrestrial artifact, and one which performed a second extraordinary feat - the ability to potentially traverse vast distances once deemed impossible to humanity at it's technological level.

For these reasons, the United Federation's Council (probably particularly backed by the mammoth McDonald & Hayes and Unicorp corporations) had allocated resources into the founding of a new agency dedicated to researching the newly found technology and acquiring others that would allow the development of the Federation, and consequently the human race in general.  Headed by the original chief scientist responsible for the team that performed initial analysis on the 'Phobos artifact', Attilio De Gaspieri, the EIRA Institute was founded with undisclosed facilities due to the sensitivity of the technologies researched.

### Initial Forays

For the following months after it's foundation, EIRA's scientists had been experimenting with the alien technology in an attempt to open a wormhole just as the DEMA had, eventually succeeding.  Since then, the Institute had been performing multiple test jumps to various known charted systems which they'd been detecting signs of potential extrraterrestrial activity. Unfortunately, many of the discoveries were actually barren, uninhabited worlds with a large gas giant producing radiation that were wrongly identified as communication signs.

It appeared that EIRA would not be able to encounter anymore findings until the end of November, 2223, on which EIRA probes at the Hathor-4 System had discovered vessels and stations from a totally unknown, functioning space-faring civilization.

### The EIRA Incident

*See also: Prelude - Calm Before the Storm*

With the newfound discovery of a functional extraterrestrial civilization, the EIRA Institute had started sending expeditions to 'study and examine' the alien species before attempting contact.  In reality these expeditions, mostly helmed by Chief Operating Officer Jacques Boyer, were actually capturing and tampering with the alien vessels, which inadvertedly had triggered a hostile reaction against the second expedition, which was scheduled to return but were overdue by two months.

With this delay and believing something had indeed happened to the expedition, Boyer convinced De Gaspieri to involve a member of the United Federation Navy into leading a relief expedition.  The chosen candidate was a veteran of the DEMA War, Admiral Anton Vargas, whom was summoned to the Tereshkova Station with his vessel, the St. George class flagship UFN Pacific, to be briefed and put in military command of the relief force and tactical decisions.  He was sworn under EIRA service for the duration of the relief force, codenamed Operation Broad Jump, and would answer to Agent Boyer, whom would go along to 'oversee' the operation.

## See Also

 * Federation
* Sylon
* Athrael
* Thorun
* Zhogarn