Logistics, Medicine, and Mutual Trust
As emergency medical needs take shape, Matt offers more than just land—he proposes coordinated treatment, knowledge exchange, and the first real gestures of trust.
Main Story
Main Story
Diplomacy and Negotiation
With the ship grounded and introductions made, Matt begins negotiations with the V’ren, offering sanctuary, medical infrastructure—and one very unexpected ambassador.
Main Story
Prologue: The Fracture of a Nation
An internal primer excerpt used by Freehold strategists and historians to understand the conditions leading to Earth’s decentralization and the rise of contract-based civilization.
Main Story
Shadow Over Missouri
A mile-long alien ship settles in Matt Marmaduke’s back fields, flattening crops and shattering normalcy. But when a calm, green-skinned envoy steps forward, the first words spoken between Earth and stars aren’t ones of war—but welcome.
Main Story
Aboard the VMS Kalnareth: Guests or Intruders?
As the V’ren delegation prepares to meet Missouri’s Freeholder, tensions blend with gallows humor aboard the refugee ship. Ten thousand lives in stasis depend on a successful first impression.
Main Story
0925 Hours: Touchdown at the Freehold
An alien ship descends over rural Missouri as Matt Marmaduke watches with a sigh and a wagered dollar. As the prow shadows his ancestral home, first contact begins—with cousins in the truck bed and cameras rolling.
Main Story
Zero Hour 9:00 AM
“They’re entering atmo,” the tracking officer said tensely, fingers flying across the console. “Looks like they’re pulling 13 Gs.” “What
Main Story
The Corporate Council Emergency Session
An emergency corporate council convenes after alien ships trigger Earth’s dormant Beacon Network. As General Leonard Wood briefs the CEOs of the world’s most powerful corporations, diplomacy and containment clash with fear, ambition, and the unknown. Humanity’s response to first contact begins—not with a government, but with a boardroom.
Main Story
First Contact
The general didn’t swear—but he wanted to. The so-called Beacon Network had been Earth’s biggest cosmic mystery since the ESA tripped over it 85 years ago. The corporations poked it, got it to blink, sometimes chirped back and forth. But no one really understood it, and most people forgot it even existed.