The Hyacinth

"Humans? As far as I know, we haven't expanded outward once in the twenty-odd years since the Empire was founded. How could one of our colony ships have ended up stranded out here?"

Besides, judging by its condition, the ship had to be decades old to look that worn.

Mardun couldn't make sense of it. "Could they be from the United Nations of Earth? But our system is incredibly far from theirs. There's no way they could have expanded this far in just twenty-odd years!"

"Perhaps they got lost," one scientist suggested.

"Could be."

Mardun finally decided to contact them. "Whatever the case, we need to talk to them-put their signal on the screen."

{Science Ship One: Hello, unfamiliar human compatriots. Which nation are you from?}

{Hyacinth colony ship: You're human? Please save us!}

"It's the Hyacinth!"

"It really is!"

The scientists cried out in surprise. Mardun's tightly furrowed brow abruptly relaxed, then creased again as he sent a transmission to the Ring World.

{Science Ship One: We belong to the Interstellar Human Military Junta. We are human too. Please wait while we contact our Marshal.}

{Hyacinth colony ship: Oh, thank heavens! Thank you! We're saved!}

{Hyacinth colony ship: You must be a new nation founded through the Ulysses Project! Which colony ark were you? Oh, right-our Hyacinth became separated from our sister ship, the Autumn Chrysanthemum, during the voyage. We drifted all the way to this damned system, and our engines broke down completely, leaving us trapped here!}

{Hyacinth colony ship: Our food supplies are almost gone. Without replenishment, everyone aboard-over a hundred thousand people-will die here!}

{Hyacinth colony ship: Fortunately, we found you. Kind compatriots, please report this to your leader as soon as possible and get us out of this damned place!}

The Hyacinth's crew seemed to have been stranded for a long time. Now that they had found them, their excitement practically spilled out of the screen.

Mardun directed his crew to approach the Hyacinth while sending a message to the Marshal.

{Hyacinth colony ship: [Video call requested]}

{Science Ship One: [Accepted]}

A few idle crew members gathered to watch. As a gesture of respect, Mardun also replaced the robotic body he was currently controlling with a projection of his human self on the Ring World.

Soon, a video signal arrived and unfolded across the holographic screen before them.

The video showed an elderly man with a full head of white hair, surrounded by a large crowd of adults in their prime, with only a handful of children and young people.

It seemed they had deliberately limited births to conserve resources, Mardun reflected.

At the sight of Mardun's projection and the crew around him, the people aboard the Hyacinth erupted into enthusiastic cheers!

"Thank the gods! We're saved!" (From the Spiritualist faction.)

"Thank you! Humanity will prevail!" (From the Militarist faction.)

"Holy shit, that's fucking awesome!" (From a kid.)

Through the stable video feed, Mardun watched the crowd embrace one another, shouting and jumping with excitement as they celebrated this turning point in their fate.

Their fellow humans had arrived-at last, salvation was at hand!

"Ahem, sorry. We're on the brink of life and death here, so seeing you got us rather excited." The elderly captain was the first to regain his composure, smiling and nodding to Mardun.

"But what sort of empire is your Interstellar Human Military Junta? And the United Nations of Earth, our homeland-is it still around?"

Mardun could barely suppress a smile. "The United Nations of Earth is doing very well. Your sister ship, the Autumn Chrysanthemum, later founded a new nation called the Human Federation. Strictly speaking, you're citizens of the United Nations of Earth. As for us, we split off from the United Nations of Earth."

"Split off?"

The Old Captain suddenly looked worried. "Did something happen to the United Nations of Earth?"

Mardun shook his head. "Just domestic political issues. We couldn't stand life in the United Nations of Earth, so we parted ways."

Mardun evidently didn't want to discuss the subject in much detail.

"The United Nations of Earth has been searching for the Hyacinth all these years. Everyone in the galaxy knows about it. Thankfully, there's always a way out-you really are still alive," Mardun said warmly. Yet something seemed to occur to him, and his expression grew slightly awkward.

"Yes, we survived. We survived," the people repeated, optimistic smiles lighting up their faces again.

"How many more days will your current food supplies last?"

Mardun pressed on with his questions.

"A little over a month. If we ration it, we can stretch it to two." The Old Captain shook his head. "I hope your homeworld isn't too far away."

Mardun nodded in agreement, suddenly feeling worried.

Although the Interstellar Human Military Junta's homeworld was only two systems away, traversing the two Hyperlanes would take twenty days, while crossing the systems themselves at sub-light speed would take over a month. Even if they set out now, they probably wouldn't make it in time.

"Of course, we won't simply consume your resources without giving anything in return."

The Old Captain paused, then added, "We can provide information you're sure to find interesting."

"What information?"

Mardun was indeed interested.

"For example, the data we collected during our voyage. It includes basic information on most of the systems we passed through, as well as detailed Hyperlane charts." The Old Captain spread his hands. "With the appropriate coordinates as reference points, that data can be incorporated into your star charts."

Star charts were exactly what they needed!

"Of course, that's not all. We also have information on the planet below us."

"You mean Amat Eiro II?"

Mardun turned toward the green planet outside the viewport and frowned. "A green surface and a normal atmosphere. It looks like there's alien life."

The Old Captain said amiably, "We tried colonizing it. There's an indigenous plant civilization down there that hasn't developed beyond sub-light speed."

He paused to let everyone aboard the science ship digest that bombshell.

The Stellaris universe contained many ordinary alien civilizations, as well as quite a few powerful civilizations that had survived since ancient times.

These ancient empires, also known as lost empires or Fallen Empires, possessed the most advanced technology and the strongest fleets.

They had once flourished, but had ultimately withdrawn for unknown reasons, maintaining their civilizations within only a tiny region of space.

Some Fallen Empires were xenophobic, while others were willing to lend weaker, emerging civilizations a hand, helping them live independently in the universe and teaching them basic knowledge about it.

Through the influence spread by the Fallen Empires, standardized weights and measures and basic knowledge had become nearly universal throughout the cosmos, preventing the dark forest principle from taking hold.

For that reason, civilizations that had only just reached space could quickly accept the existence of aliens.

Although Mardun and the others had long known that alien civilizations existed, this was their first actual encounter.

And their first alien encounter was not with a powerful adversary, but with weak, pre-FTL natives. Everyone couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief.

"These adorable plant life-forms are delicious and highly nutritious." The Old Captain launched into his account. "Our colony ship was damaged, but we found this planet before it broke down completely. We took landing pods down and established a colony, intending to rule over them, but-"

"Although they were still in a feudal age, they were extremely xenophobic and united against us. As you know, we're only a colony ship. We didn't have many Army troops accompanying us." The Old Captain sighed and continued.

"They've reproduced on this planet with its pleasant climate for many years. Their population is enormous. We lacked advanced weapons, so the only way to obtain food was to pay for it with our lives."

"During the fighting, they united completely and tried to drive us off their planet. As you can see, we lost."

Recalling the past, the Old Captain couldn't help letting out another long sigh.

The crew aboard the science ship held back their laughter.

Getting driven off a planet by alien natives-what a disgrace to humanity!

"Fortunately, we met you. Otherwise, we'd have to go down there and risk our lives stealing food."

"One moment. Our Marshal has sent a message."

Mardun opened another communications window, and the Marshal's excited face immediately appeared on the screen.