Before we even traveled into space, our radio signals had traveled over fifty lightyears away from Earth at the speed of light. Those signals are still traveling now, spreading out throughout the stars. Our own colonies outside The Wall are picking them up now, and in thousands of years they will reach Pelora, Asgard, and the other alien homeworlds. Perhaps one day we will see their early transmissions. They haven’t told us if we will.
I’m three quarters Scandinavian, so when the Swedes sent a squadron to support Aneerin, I jumped at the chance to fly off their flagship. Her Swedish Majesty’s Ship Gustav Adolf is named after one of the greatest kings in Swedish history, the first modern general, and the man that made Sweden a great power in Europe. Her crew guaranteed that she lived up to the name, and I am proud to be able to say that I served on her for a time.
When the Alliance established new colonies, they chose peaceful, optimistic names. Serenity is one example, and became one of the Core Worlds of the Western Alliance. And like many of the Core Worlds, it became a priority target during The War. Serenity Valley, the home of Serenity City, was the target of one of the bloodiest ground battles of the entire War. I’m a cyber security guard now for the beautiful Alliance Victory Gardens, built to commemorate our victory.
During the twentieth century, we used massive, brute force transmitters for our radio and television signals. We proclaimed our existence and our technological sophistication for anybody to see, without any encryption or security of any kind. We did not transmit at full power for long, but we believe the Peloran discovered us because their ships heard us. It simply took our signals and their ships centuries to meet.
The Spanish Armada used to be the scariest navy in the world. It certainly wasn’t anything like that when The War started, but when the greatest Alliance fleets failed to bring victory, the Armada was there. Their battleships held the line when all others failed. They even joined the Hyades campaign, sending the Santa Maria’s squadron to aid Aneerin’s fleet. I flew off her for several months. It wasn’t the most fun cruise I had, but I’d sail with them again anytime.