Synopsis
The Western Republic Starship Columbia departed Earth a little over two years ago on a ten-year mission to place scientific outposts, as a precursor to colonization, on the 5th planet in the Epsilon Eridani system (Eden) and on the 4th planet of the Tau Ceti system (Atlantis). Both systems had been surveyed by probes over the last 40 years and no civilization had been found. On Eden the crew of Columbia were surprised to find a civilization of telepaths, also telekinetic, that referred to themselves as the Collective. They also found a battle cruiser from the Basel Confederation approaching Eden, with the intent of colonizing the planet and extermination of any sentient species found there. There was no negotiation with the Basel. Working with the Collective, the Basel Warriors were driven off by implanting the idea of Phantoms, from their own legends, coming to eat their souls. With the assistance of the Collective and their telekinetic abilities, the outpost of Babylon was completed in half the projected time and then they joined the crew of Columbia for the next destination. The Atlantis scientific outpost of Paititi was almost abandoned because of the appearance of an animal, similar to a dinosaur of the raptor family, that Columbia named Spiritusraptor (Ghost Ravisher) because somehow it masked itself from being sensed by psyche or science. The Collective could not sense this dangerous hunter and somehow, even though warm blooded, it also evaded thermal sensors of Columbia’s tactical shuttles. In the end, the robotic canine companions found a way to detect and deter the Spiritusraptors by using their own subsonic and ultrasonic echolocation against them. As Columbia and the Collective completed the Paititi outpost they connected with another Collective on the 4th planet of Delta Pavonis (Pav4) that was under attack by the Basel Confederation. En route to Tau Ceti, Glory Callaghan, the second in command of Columbia, along with the Collective, had stumbled on a Wormhole shortcut that reduced the eight-month trip to Tau Ceti to two days. With that shortcut in hand they were able to travel to Pav4 to assist. Instead of one Battle Cruiser they found a battle group of three cruisers. The joint effort of the Collective and Columbia were able to drive off two cruisers but had to repel a boarding effort of the flag ship and barely defeated them. Columbia then placed 2,000 Collective and 2,000 humans, with a very appreciative populace of Pav4, for the creation of the Athens scientific outpost. The Pav4 Collective also expressed their willingness to accept four colonies of 500,000 humans each on their world. So instead of only two possible colony worlds in ten years Columbia has successfully secured three worlds in a little over two years. Columbia along with 1,100 of the Collective now return to Earth with data cores and a huge amount of other intelligence from the Basel Confederation Flagship Victorious.
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