the HERA Empire - a Tachidi AAR

[Anguille]

The Tachidis

Prologue

Most races know nothing about the Tachidis and their origin. They are however a very old race.

Circa 6800 GC

Tachido, homeplanet of the Tachidis, is in the same solar system as Nazin, homeworld of the Darloks.






The System is known as Hera by both populations. This is probably the only place in the galaxy were two sentient races had started their existence. When the first Darlok ship with system propulsion reached Tachido, it was welcomed by curious and courteous Tachidis. The Tachidis were peaceful and hard workers. The relationship between the two races was excellent and the Darloks were eagerly buying the production of the mines in Tachido while the Tachidis learned from the great Darlok scientists. The symbiosis was perfect and remained so for more than 10000 GC.

Circa 8200 GC

While the Darloks had always longed for space, the Tachidis were happy with their life underground. Only a few Tachidis settlements existed on the surface of Tachido while the Darlok colonies were very big. And so it was with no surprise that only the Darloks took part of the expansion of the young races.
When they met the other races they always introduced their solar system as Nazin as they had promised not to reveal the existence of the Tachidis who preferred to remain discreet.
When the “Pax Humanica” was established, only the Darloks were known from the other races as no Tachidi had ever been seen.

Circa 14600 GC

During the “Pax Humanica”, various merchants and travellers stopped in the “Nazin” system. Some Tachidis, more curious than others, were happy to meet them and hear about the great events of the Galaxy. For the first time, some Tachidis left their homesystem to discover other races. The first planet they visited was Kholdan. The Hive system of the Klackons was very interesting and both races seemed to complete each other. While other races and planets were discovered, most Tachidis returned to Kholdan. The Klackons paid a good price for their mining skills. 200 GC later, a rather large Tachidi community existed on Kholdan. This led to the assumption by other races that the Tachidis were relatives to the Klackons which was wrong. By 17300 GC, the Tachidis of Kholdan had established a unity with the Klackons and were losing contact with their homeworld.

Circa 17900 GC

During the Great War, the Tachidis of Kholdan fought with the Klackons and shared the shipbuilding techniques freely and so they had the same type of ships. They felt so united that most Tachidis believed that they indeed belonged to the same species. Some of them however, decided to go back to Tachido and brought their knowledge with them.

Circa 19100 GC

Some races had expressed their anger at the Senate of the New Orions…among them the Darloks. In retaliation, the New Orions destroyed the Bulrathi, the Elerians and the Mrrshan. The Darloks, seeing that there was no hope, decided to evacuate as many people as possible but many remained in the Hera System.

19104 GC

The New Orions bombed Nazin, Tachido and the other planets where they could find Darloks. Only few of them survived on Nazin where they had hidden in the mines of the Tachidis. The new Orions still had no idea of the existence of the Insects. The Tachidis heard the bombardments but found out that they were struck inside the planet as all entrances had been destroyed during the attack. They were furious. They had never done any harm to anyone, but the New Orions had destroyed most of their planet and killed all the settlers who lived on the surface.


19112 GC

The Tachidis, led by Lascap, their great leader, managed to reopen all the entrances of their underground world. They were shocked to see the state of their planet. They managed to establish the communication with Nazin and the surviving Darloks and were very sad to hear the news of the destruction of the various cities and races. Lascap and his ministers decided that these crimes could not remain unpunished. Therefore it was decided to create the HERA Empire with the Darloks. The Antarans would have to pay for their crimes.

[Longspur]

A rich background makes this a very promising beginning.

[elizibar]

I love starting off with a Magnate in the same system. One time I started off with a Rhea magnate. Needless to say, I conquered a lot early on for my expansion.

[Specialist290]

A new AAR w/ a detailed intro... Nice

[Anguille]

Part 1: Any survivors?

19115 GC


Lascap ordered the creation of exploration drones. Those “scouts” would have to visit the systems nearby and see if anyone had survived the attacks and if the New Orions were still around. The Tachidis had only one large ship at their disposal: it was the colony ship “Helion” with which a group of Tachidis had come back in 17900 GC from Kholdan. It was decided that a great group of Tachidis would settle on Nazin in order to help the reconstruction of the homeworld of the Darloks. The Helion was then dismantled in order to provide building material.

Meanwhile all of Tachido’s industry was set on the production of Colony Ships and Exploration drones.
The Helion was taken as example for the creation of the new ships. While an old model, the ship had managed to travel long distances in the past. The Exploration drones were very small but filled with lots of detection technologies. They would provide a lot of information.

19116 GC

The first two drones were launched. Drone 1 aimed for the Grainer System which used to be a great industry centre of the Darloks. Unfortunately, no signs of life were found…only death and destruction. Footage in the Vaht System showed the same scenes of devastation. The surviving Darloks of Nazin were heart-broken. By 19117, the first colony ships were sent to Grainer and Vaht in order to occupy these systems in the name of the Hera Empire.

The expedition to the south, after passing the Narn system, finished at two dead-ends, the systems of Niru and Tucana. Again, everything was in a desolated state and everything had to be rebuilt.

Lascap and his ministers found out that the Hera System itself was a choke point.



19118 GC

It was important to send new drones to the north in order to find another choke point which would be used to protect the Empire. Lascap thought it was good to expand as fast as possible. As long as no other races were encountered, the Tachidis and the Darloks would colonize all the suitable planets they would find.

Many systems were found in the north. The Nasak system appeared to be a good choke point and would have to be secured. Still, no other races or survivors of the New Orion’s attacks were found.



The global situation of the empire seemed stable. There were enough minerals to develop the new colonies and enough food for everyone. The Hera Empire was growing nicely.

[Anguille]

19119 GC

A messenger of the Navigation Centre arrived in the office of Lascap:

- Glloou reeeee issssst ggtttttttttttea! (Mylord, I have a message for you!)
- Asdfgi dlgagaaaaaa sdfsrer edssa eeeee? (Some important news I hope as I am rather busy?)

Note: from now on, all dialogues will be translated directly.

- Mylord….we lost contact with Drone 5 when it reached the system of Alshain – A. It seems it has been destroyed by some kind of laser weapon.
- Interesting! Replied Lascap. Could it be that we encountered the New Orions? What did the last footage show?

Note: Every time the Tachidis faced something new, they found it interesting

- We don’t believe that it was the New Orions. The Ships we’ve seen do not look like the ones that were used against our world.
- Fine…in that case we’ll have to make sure that we establish contact with them.

After trying various channels, contact was established with a race called Raas. Their nation was named Tythu. Apparently they were related to the famous Sakkras and had been their slaves for a long time. Their aversion for tyranny and injustice was therefore very strong. The chances were very good that both races would get along and maybe they would fight the Antarans together.



Unfortunately for the Tachidis, as the exploration drone had been destroyed (the Raas couldn’t know that the Tachidis would be friendly), the Tythu Empire didn’t have any problems to send a colony ship to Nasak and occupy one of the planets. However, as the relationship was always getting better, this didn’t seem to be a great problem at the present time. Furthermore, the Tachidis and the Raas didn’t like the same kind of planets and as soon as a non-aggression pact would be signed, the Tachidis would also send a colony ship to Nasak. In the meantime however, the Tachidis landed a colony ship in the unclaimed system of Centauri-B which would be used as a reserve choke point.

[Lennier]

As your Tachidi would say, "interesting."

Did you choose to not be in the Senate, or did you let random chance dictate?

[Anguille]

Thanks for reading.

It was random...


19122 GC

The Tythu proved to be good and reliable partners. In a very short time, the Raas signed a trade treaty and a research treaty. Lascap and his counsellors thought that the time had come to suggest a non-aggression pact. And so when the channels opened, Lascap was happy to see that the skin of the ambassador of the Raas was getting blue.

Note: apparently, the Raas of the Tythu Empire became slightly blue when they were happy

- What it is the position of your government to our proposal, asked Lascap?
- They are very pleased to have encountered such a friendly race as you are. As a member of the Senate, our race did meet very stupid races. So we agree to your proposals….
- The Senate? Interesting! Who’s in there and what does this Senate do?
- We do not wish to talk about it right now but we’ll tell you when the time is right.

And so the image of the ambassador of the Raas disappeared of the screen.



The Tachidis, as it was allowed in the treaty, sent a colony ship to Nasak in order to establish a full defensive position there. Another one was ordered to Levable to complete the control of that sector by the Hera Empire. Many Colony ships were underway with many Tachidis and Darloks on board eager to colonise the galaxy. Usually, the ships carrying Tachidis left with only 1/3 of passengers, the reason being that the colonists were squeezed on arrival due to the…ahem…high reproduction rates of the insects.
One of the Exploration drone entered the Hayk system. Three Star Lanes started from there. It was decided that the drone would remain in that system until a colony ship would reach it.



The global situation of the Empire was still safe. Everything ran smoothly.

[Anguille]

19124 GC

Long discussions had taken place but the document was finally ready to be signed. For a race that had never travelled, the results of the talks with the Raas Empire were rather impressive. In less than 2 Galactic Cycles, the Tachidis had managed to convince the Tythu Empire to sign an Intelligence treaty. This would allow the Hera Empire to gather new information on what was beyond the Raas Empire and discover someday the whereabouts of the New Orions. Lascap and Laathu, ruler of the Raas, signed the treaty on Nasak I. As the system was controlled by both Empires, they felt this was a good place to have a negotiation.

Some months later, the first reports came in. Lascap and his counsellors looked with high interest the new maps the Raas had sent them. Many new systems were now identified. This deal was indeed very productive. After reviewing the conditions of the various new planets, Lascap decided that every suitable planet not yet occupied, should be colonized.

Strangely, after 9 GC, the Hera Empire had only 1 battleship in space. The fact was it didn’t have any direct enemy yet and was able to focus on its expansion without wasting money and material on a military fleet. Lascap knew it wouldn’t last forever but they had to use that opportunity to take a serious advantage on the other empires on the fields of technology and planetary development. Once the Hera Empire would control many planets, the construction of a decent fleet would be fast if necessary. Lascap also hoped that the Raas were appreciating that the Tachidis were peaceful and didn’t build any offensive fleet. The Tythu Empire felt that the Tachidis were kind and curious creatures that only wanted to discover the universe, they didn’t know yet that the intention of the Tachidis was to find and destroy the New Orions. All this eased the relation between the two races to the point that the citizens started to establish fixed trade routes and it was natural to see members of the Raas on Tachido.
Meanwhile, Lascap and his ministers were looking at the new maps that the Raas had given them…so many planets to colonize. Interestingly, some planets belonging to other species, like the humans, were also shown on the maps…would they be as friendly as the Raas?



Some time later, a Scientist coming from an unknown race, the Psilons, offered his services. As the Hera Empire was eager for knowledge, they accepted to pay Unepse of Topology large amounts so he would help them in their technology race.


Unepse of Topology...a superior mind

[MisterPlow]

Glad you're still working on this one, it's a fun read.

[Anguille]

Originally posted by MisterPlow
Glad you're still working on this one, it's a fun read.

Thanks ...had lots of work lately... ...i will finish this AAR even if takes time... you may also read my Knights of Honor AAR if you like.

[Anguille]

19125 GC

Lascap and his ministers had just received the latest data on the diplomatic relations of the Tythu Empire. As members of the Senate, they had contact with the New Orions. The localization of their systems was however unknown. Oddly, another Tachidi Empire, the Kchaktee unity, was in contact with the Raas....did they come from Kholdan or were they from a lost colony? Unfortunately, the communications channels weren’t working on such large distances and the Hera Empire would have to wait until some outpost or colony would be installed nearer to the centre of the galaxy before they could establish contact with them.
The Tythu Empire had also established contact with a race of machines which called themselves WJ-337-DOYQ. Strangely, the Raas even had agreed to sign an Alliance treaty with these creatures. The Tachidi – Darlok union would have to keep that relation under survey as the balance in the core of the galaxy may be at stake. The Raas were among the 3 strongest races and a leading member of the Senate.
The Raas had also a rather good relation with an empire of the Humans, former rulers of Orion, called Rusko…they were known to be militaristic and arrogant. Some humans had even come to Tachido during the “Pax Humanica”. Not all humans were bad, however, and maybe the Tachidi – Darlok union would be able to make good deals with them once contacted.
Finally, the Raas were at war with the Ienequi, an empire of Trilarians. Little was known about them.



In the same year, a Scientist coming from the Klackons, offered his services. The massive influence of this leader would highly improve the production of the industries throughout the Hera Empire. Lascap accepted the offer of Tsai’Xaloptakap. Maybe, the two Insectoid nations would unite to defeat the New Orions?


Tsai’Xaloptakap, it's good to have allies...

[Anguille]

19127 GC

In the Imperial Palace:

- Sire, we’ve established a colony in the Hayk System. More Colony ships will arrive in the coming months. Our settlements on Marsic-B have grown and show already great potential for the future.
- Fine. Everything works as planned, replied Lascap…Actually it’s even going too well. I hope we won’t have a bad surprise. Anything new from the Diplomatic Channels?
- No, Sire, nothing new. The Raas are as friendly as ever and our Space Ports can barely support the large amounts of Raas ships landing and taking off everyday.
- Good…you may go now.

Lascap went back to his desk and took a good look at the map of the region. The Tachidi – Darlok union had been able to consolidate its control over the sector around the Nasak System…access to the core of the Hera Empire was nearly impossible to anyone but the Raas. The Fleet Command had oriented many drones to the north – east as the sector seemed empty. Even if many Colony Ships had been sent to the West, most of the Systems were controlled by the Raas. It was therefore imperious to find new planets that could be colonized. After passing Osterogon, the “scout” aimed for a system called Phecca....
Would the Hera Empire discover new planets in that system?



The global situation of the empire was stable. There were enough minerals extracted to develop the new colonies and enough food for everyone. The Hera Empire was still growing nicely.

[Anguille]

Known Empires:

19128 GC

1. Tythu Empire: Raas
2. New Orions: Antarans
3. Rusko: Humans
4. WJ-337-DOYQ: Cynoids
5. Ienequi Empire: Trilarians
6. The Kchaktee unity: Tachidis

Lascap had received some information from the Raas Intelligence. As a member of the Senate, the Raas had access to a lot of information that was collected throughout the galaxy. According to the message, there were about 18 Empires in the Galaxy. There existed therefore 11 unknown Empires to the Hera Empire...how strong and how big were they?
The Grand Intelligence Master (GIM) entered the office of Lascap.

- Sire, what do you think of this information we got from the Raas?
- Interesting, to say the least! It’s already remarkable that we already know 1/3 of the Empires while we have travelled only so little by now.
- Yes Sire, maybe we won’t need to visit the entire galaxy before we create an Alliance with the other Nations and destroy the homeworld of the New Orions.
- Maybe…

Meanwhile, Drone 2 arrived at Phecca. He recorded the presence of two alien species and transmitted the images and information to Tachido.



The Grand Communication Master (GCM) rushed into the office of Lascap.

- Sire!
- We’ve encountered two new Empires in Phecca. The first is called Gareche, a small Empire of Humans and the second is called ZD-332-REYC, creatures who define themselves as Meklars.
- Interesting! Open the communication channels will you?
- Yes Sire: first the Humans.

The Huge screen in the office lightens up and suddenly appears the face of the Gareche Ambassador.



- Sire, the Humans are very pleased to meet your race.
- We are very pleased to meet you too. As a first sign of understanding, we would like to offer you a trade treaty…will you talk to your leaders?
- Yes Milord, I will report as soon as I have an answer.

And the screen became dark again. Lascap turned to the GCM and said.

- Interesting those small humans…I thought they weren’t as sympathetic.
- Well, apparently it also depends on the size of their empire, the bigger they get, the less sympathetic they are…
- Really? That’s interesting.
- Let me introduce you to the Meklars, your Highness.
- Yes please…

Again, Lascap faced the screen but this time a machine appeared on the screen.



- Siiiiiiree, weeeee theee Meeeeklaaaars aaaree veeeeery inteeeereeesteeed in your goooods.
- So are we, said Lascap…so you want a trade treaty?
- Yeeees, pleeeaseee ----- wiiiiill yoooou dooooo soooo?
- Yes…

The image then disappeared and the room became silent again…

- Interesting those machines, aren’t they? Said Lascap
- Interesting indeed your Highness.

[Anguille]

19129 GC

No treaties had been signed yet with the two new empires and so it was a race to secure the planets. The Hera Empire managed to land some colony ships in the Phecca System. The Saak System was the homeworld of the Gareche (humans) and it was therefore impossible to enter that system without enough space support as the humans had a defensive fleet there. The next system, Zugamog, was not yet cartographed but an exploration drone was on the way. The Meklars had given the localization of their systems, so the Tachidi-Darlok unity knew which systems belong to the ZD-332-REYC.

- So, what do you think about our situation in the north, Grand Military Master (GMM)? Asked Lascap.
- Milord, these empires are tiny. The humans barely control their own homeworld (4 planets) and the Meklars control something like three systems (7 planets), that’s all. We should consider integrating them in our empire. The military skills of the humans and the industrious intelligence of the Meklars could help us a lot in our future campaign against the New Orions.
- Mmmmh, interesting point of view. I shall consider this at a counsellors meeting but we won’t take any risks for the moment.

After this session, Lascap went to the balcony. The night on Tachido was beautiful and the wisest of rulers watched the stars in the sky...
Was conquering other empires the reason why the Tachidis had started to travel in space? No…but maybe it would be worth it if it could save many lives if the New Orions could be defeated faster thanks to that. Lascap had then a bad night.



Next morning, The Grand Analytical Master arrived with a secret report from the Raas:

- Sire, the New Orions have established a ranking of the most powerful Empires in the Galaxy.
- Interesting! Have we been analysed too?
- Yes, Milord….we are number one in every aspect: number of planets, technology and population.
- Huh…it’s great no?
- Well actually, not really Milord.
- Why?
- Well, I talked with GMM (Grand Military Master), and we think that it’s not such a good thing that the New Orions are aware of us….they will be prepared when we attack.
- So what can we do now?
- Maybe we should speed up the colonization, the scientific progress and maybe conquer other Empires in order to get stronger or we may just keep a low profile with little aggressions.
- So what should we do? asked Lascap…
- I don’t know, Sire, you’re the Mastermind…

And so Lascap studied the reports until late in the night….What to do…what to do?