First Contact with Ra'na

Diplomatic action

In the early hours of November 28, 2220 CE, a small team of scientists operating the Drygalski Crater Radio Observatory on the spacebound face of Luna detected a faint, sustained radio signal radiating from the apparent position of Tau Ceti. It was soon discovered to be of intelligent origin -in fact, it was later determined to be one of the first long-range voice transmissions conducted on Ra'na, leaking out into space.   After two months of deliberation, a message of greeting was broadcast to Tau Ceti, and the United Nations Aerospace Coalition set about to planning an autonomous mission to the system. The probe Henry Stanley, equipped with full artificial intelligence and a spare ansible, was launched on a course for the system in 2230: three years before humanity's radio calling card arrived at its destination.   In 2244, a return message was received from the inhabitants of Tau Ceti, who called themselves skae. They, too, had decided to send an autonomous probe, but their technological capacity at the time produced a nuclear-pulse vessel more akin to Copernicus than Stanley. However, it was never launched.   Just a year after this return greeting, Henry Stanley settled into orbit and deployed its landers, one of which was equipped with a simple ansible intended for the skae to reverse-engineer. After almost a three-decade electromagnetic dance across twelve lightyears, the two species were finally able to communicate in real-time from 2245 onward, working together to coordinate a crewed expedition that would become the Perseus I mission.