 Hello and welcome fellow members of the Hegemoni of Man, our great and powerful scientific directorate, may it live on gloriously forevermore. I'm your host Philip Magnus, coming from 88.7 The Fedora, the longest running radio turn-hull program for all our members to see. It's my absolute pleasure to be your guide down memory lane. Today we will take a look at the dawn of the Hegemoni, starting with the first decade, also since our great unification, into one people. After all, one can only truly progress by knowing the past and learning from its mistakes. It all began with the development of that most necessary of technologies for space travel and eventually expansion, the warp drive. The dawn of the 23rd century saw our glorious capital, Earth, finally united under one cause, to discover the secrets of the universe under the leadership of director Eric Magnus. And his colleague is in the leadership, fine scientists, brave men and women, each doing cutting-edge research to help our burning empire grow into something that much greater. Because the warp drive technology was discovered, our leading physics researcher decided to pursue the implementation of AI in administration, thusly making any future pursuits of science unwavered by ours filled with bureaucracy. Sergei Gryaznov, in charge of future sociotel betterment, decided to further hit the glorious idea of planetary unification, as though our engineer, he was spurred, perhaps by fear of unknown lifeforms, in the researching iron thrusters. While this groundbreaking technological progress was underway, Benedetta Valeria, the then chief of planet scientists, took on the task of serving our very own star system. Those discovered on the asteroid Junu-2 were promptly harvested and used for the further expansion and creation of many, many more stations. During the system survey by Ms Valeria, we came face to face with the first indispensable fact proving that we might not be alone out there, after all. As you might imagine, the first proof of intelligent life was surprising to say the least, but there was no way to know if the FTL trail that was found is or was recent, or from so long as millions of years ago. Needless to say, Ganymede became a point of interest. Research station was even built to further monitor any fluctuations. A year after our research ship had begun its task, Sol's survey was completed, Zenit was sent to Alpha Centauri for further research. During this period, Earth's administrators did some fairly amazing work. The Young Hegemoni's populace grew, as did our energy and food vaults. Thank God for slaves, am I right? In truth, the next few years were calm, and without much of note happening. That is, until May 15th of 2204, our first sightings of alien species, can you imagine? The sheer shock of it all, knowing fully well that it was bound to happen and yet living through it. An absolutely monumental occasion in the history of the Hegemoni. Contact was not made, however. The species took the first step, learning more about the other. The facts remained, our borders were very small, and the galaxy was very, very large. Meanwhile, research project made quite an interesting find in Bernard's Star. A mural, filled with an astonishing amount of information was translated, allowing us to glimpse the history of a species that apparently ruled this sector of the galaxy well over 18 million years ago. That, that however was not the most interesting thing to happen to the Hegemoni that particular year. Admiral Miguel Solano, commander of the then unnamed First Strike Force, entered combat against an enemy fleet of absolutely unknown origins. The battle was recorded in an old hollow which you are currently viewing. Only later did we learn that these were crystallized entities. They understandably picked the interest of our venerable scientists. Much was learned from these beasts' carapaces, chiefly the fact that they were in fact alive. Much more was speculated, yet, but the militarists among us saw to it that the Hegemoni be ready in case our paths crossed again. One of the science ships sent to serve in nearby star systems found a planet colonized by unknowns on the 13th of October 2208. Incidentally, a brand new museum of exobiology was opened on earth. On that very same day. The purpose of this museum to explain away the misgivings that the Hegemoni had about many a biological theory. It was only seven months later that we finally established contact with the United Pelx Crotonian regions. The first clearly sentient race we met, and one with which communication was finally possible. The news was received with mixed feelings, of course, and that was only to be expected. Even though our culture had very much embraced collectivism by that point, some still felt fear. Nevertheless, an embassy was eventually established, with the hope of furthering communication with the Zenos. The Hegemoni of Man did not seek to begin a conflict so early on in its history. Tarsend the first decade of our great scientific directorate. The beginning of the next year was bloody, due to another skirmish with the crystallite entities. It was far from the last one. I thank all of you members of the Hegemoni for tuning in. Join me next time and we will learn about the second decade in our venerable directorate's history.