Treecuu side of the border near the PCT Market station in the Badlands of Anarchy
A few weeks after the annexation of the homeworld of the Aryyt't

The lights flickered. Or that was actually an illusion. The captain of the RFS Utaar had explained the phenomenon to him: the ship's cloak altered the spin of the quarks somehow, and when it was deactivated, certain materials emitted photons, making it look like the lights were flickering. Or something like that. Whatever.

Special Emissary Cataat, a Treecuu insectoid, stood up from the comfortable bed in his quarters and made sure his robes were presentable. He had declined joining the captain on the ship's bridge during the first part of their journey to avoid the usual boring techno babble, but now he had to join her. Deactivation of the cloak meant that they had arrived at the border. Travelling with the cloak active in friendly territory was a precaution to obstruct attempts by the neighbours to track the ships to their bases. More techno babble. This at least made sense.

As Cataat walked to the bridge, he thought about the historical significance of his mission. Not only was he one of the very first diplomats who had been dispatched to an alien star nation, they would soon be crossing the Yuu-Laam border as well, the oldest and least changed border of the Star Empire. They knew very little about what awaited them on the other side. Signal seepage and active remote tracking attempts suggested a highly developed civilisation. His mission was simple yet meaningful enough: to learn more about their neighbours and hopefully establish some form of a respectful relation. And perhaps most importantly: to learn about their attitude towards the Aryyt't incident.

Cataat entered the bridge and was immediately called over to where the captain sat.

"Weapons and active scan disabled. First contact message playing. 'GO' from command. All ready to cross the border" reported the captain. She looked confident, but there was a trace of excitement in her eyes.

More techno babble, thought Cataat.

"Very well, captain. Let's proceed."

The sleek white cigar-shaped cruiser accelerated slowly, crossing the border at almost walking pace.