CH.01- Discovery

July 5th 2415. Station Xavier. Outer Sector.

Hovering above a planet in a distant star system at the edge of The Imperium's reach floated a lone star-base, monitoring travel in-between systems.

"Time is 07:00, all relevant crew please begin changing shifts." A robotic voice sounded throughout the star-base to notify all its occupants. Around the whole facility, multiple people could be seen walking down hallways entering rooms to either start their work on the base or rest. In the hallway to the control room the one of two captains of the base could be seen walking down it with people stopping to

salute as he passed.

As the doors slid open a room filled with computers and holograms came into view. All those working momentarily dropped what they were doing to salute the captain that walked in. After reaching the observation deck overlooking the planet below; he stood in front of all the crew and ordered,

"Anything of importance, report it now, if not return to your positions and continue to work."

Many sat down or returned to what they were doing with only a handful approaching the captain.

"Captain, we have picked up a strange frequency on one of our sensors. It seems that something has entered the system. From the looks of the data it can not be identified, we are requesting to send a small fleet to identify and if necessary bring it back to analyse." Spoke the women, holding a tablet filled with data.

"Natasha, why was something like this only reported now and not to the previous captain."

"It was reported, however due to the time the object was found and its time being close to the shift change, Captain Davis just ordered the ships to be ready to move and order that it be reported to you to control. All ships and crew are ready to move and we are just waiting your orders."

A long sigh sounded out as the captain began to look through the data on the tablet. "The bastard just left the responsibility to me. He had the authority to delay the shift change for something like this," bitter smiles appeared on the faces of those around as the captain resumed, "send out one construction vessel, and two corvettes to escort it. I want at least a platoon on board each just in-case of any hiccups. If it turns out to be a stray asteroid get all necessary recordings and then try to bring it in, if not possible that is fine. If it is anything else I want an immediate report back to base. We will attempt to bring it back to the base after it has been cleared and is safe. Under no circumstances can the object be destroyed unless given clearance."

"Understood captain." Natasha saluted and turned to prepare to relay the orders to the shipyard whilst others who had reports for the captain began to speak to him.

Inside the shipyard many workers could be seen loading and unloading ships. Natasha entered the yard and began to relay the order given. Within minutes the three ships necessary where ready to leave with Natasha speaking to the Lieutenant in charge of the operation.

"Under no circumstances are you to take command of the operation without explicit approval from command. If engagement is necessary, you are free to return fire whilst reporting back. Do not engage to kill and only attack to disarm. Understood"

"Understood ma'am." The lieutenant saluted whilst replying before turning and entering one of the corvettes. Within minutes the investigation party left the station with Natasha returning to the command centre.

"This is lieutenant King; we have the object in sight command. The object is most definitely not an asteroid but some sought of metallic construct, most likely a type of ship, however it does not match any known type and doesn't look to belong to any know empire. We are awaiting orders with how to approach this."

The captain whilst reading the files on his tablet received the communication. He put it down and began giving orders to the fleet. "See if the ship has a communication frequency, if so connect me to it and I will handle communication, if unable to find one send a couple of probes to it and give it a scan to see if its harmful. If it is fine after the scans are complete bring it back to base for analysis, if it's determined to be unsafe or the scan cannot complete for any reason, prepare to surround the object and reinforcements will come to assist the situation. If engaged by the object follow the orders previously given."

"Understood Captain." The lieutenant closed the call with the captain and began to examine the object before attempting communications. It was a purely black in colour with red lines of light visible coming off of it. There were no windows or any place which looked like it could hold weapons, but it was large enough to not just dismiss it a scrap metal. It was shaped in a figure eight with the middle of the object being only slightly smaller than the ends.

After admiring the thing in front of him for a minute King got to work trying to establish communication with it. After a few minuets of trying to catch something, a wavelength was found that was possible to communicate with. King established the call between the star-base and the object before turning to give order to prepare for either combat or collection.

Captain Stormwall upon receiving a channel began to talk with a cold overbearing tone. "Unidentified object, report and explain what you are doing unauthorised, in space owned by the Imperium. If you do not respond within 15 minutes, we will begin a scan of your vessel and board it if necessary." Time passed and after 15 minutes no response was heard Stormwall order the scan of the vessel for life as well as danger.

"Captain," King called, "we have scanned the object and we aren't detecting any life or danger. If there is any our ships does not have the technology to pick it up. Permission to bring this back with us for further testing."

"Permission granted. Bring the thing back to dock five, we will have it cleared for your arrival." After closing all communication with the ship Stormwall made preparations for the arrival of the object.