The Beginning

In the Beginning INRA although not formally known as INRA until 2539 was a small band of scientists dedicating their life to the study of Extra terrestrial life, times were simple, until this band of scientists were ‘fortunate’ enough to meet a few members of the UEE’s Navy.

Thanks to the discovery and early contact with our new ‘friends’, the UEE’s military Big wigs were getting very antsy about the traditions of this new alien race, and what it implied to human existence, we are of course talking about the Xi’an. (The extreme Militarism that was prevalent in Xi’am society). The Banu was as of the documented fist discovery involving arguably the ‘murder’ of one of there own, deemed ‘harmless’… However Humanity had never met such a threat before.

Now you may be wondering what a bunch of scientists studying alien biology could do for Humanities Military ? The answer is alot, as we all know the UEE’s Military has alot of independence from that of its government, that is why they contacted our former selves to conduct ‘research’ on our new ‘friends’…

The reason why is fairly obvious, the government was still giddy from getting a new mate to talk to, so much so the goverment refused to listen to the millitary’s concerns and as a result the military took it apon themselves to employ “Off the Book researchers” to look into several aspects of Xi’an life, mostly with the goal of finding themselves a weakness…

5 years of funding, expansions, mergers and other ‘upgrades’ to the research group led the organisation formally being recognised as The Intergalactic Naval Reserve Arm, the name mixed with the amount of Privatised merchant supply vessels contracted in via the UEE gave INRA its disguise in which to operate under. But by this point the tensions between the Xi’an and Humanity had been recognised by the government fully, and the UEE began its first military buildup against the new threat, thanks to this, INRA was organised further into a military asset boasting dozens of military fighters and a grand total of 2 Hammerhead Corvettes, gifted to INRA during the buildup initiative. However, INRA hadn’t been able to develop anything that could be considered ‘devastating’ to the Xi’an, a few leads were being pursued, but most of these leads as the logs show, were “Nothing to do with the military downfall of the Xi’an” and more to do with Xi’an Crops, Bone structures and other ‘pointless’ research projects according to the paymaster in the UEE’s Military…

But the UEE didn’t give up, INRA received funding for military research via its Merchant Fleet, until a breakthrough was made by one of the young lab apprentices who we only know as ‘Rhyan’. the elusiveness of this man seems to be a signature trait with all records of the early INRA , what we do know however is that he thought he might have found a weakness with there skin, in particular, where the skin meets the eye. This part of the skin was the most similar to humanities own anatomy, and as many officers in the UEE understood, our knowledge in killing our own was far superior than killing the unknown. After this discovery, things picked up, INRA received backing from several Chemical Plants across the empire, and research labs were quickly turned into munitions factories attempting to find a way to weaponize against this weakness.

From the Remaining Logs this was found at a reseach base called ‘Klatt Enterprise’ :

“Finally we have a breakthrough. A researcher at the facility in the [REDACTED] system has found something – stumbled onto something, by all accounts – and its pushed our research forward dramatically. Essentially, its kind of a fungus – one that appears to have a significant effect of the Xi’an Biology. The Theory is if we could somehow get the fungus into their Starships – specifically ventilation systems. We could shut them down. We’d Wipe out there fleet in moments,if war breaks out we could win it in one stroke…”

After this discovery personal Counts Skyrocketed and it wasn’t long until the Corporation was Listed as one of the Largest Companies on the Earth Stock Exchange, although it had almost No income relative to its level of backing, nevertheless thanks to the UEE, it was ‘Overlooked’ by the Advocacy.

Cracks in our walls

The Year was now 2548, and many in INRA were getting restless, INRA was running independently and nearly all the personal were wide eyed scientists, teachers and engineers hired on wages they could never expect to get anywhere else in their respected field, yet no amount of money could conceal what was happening in the gritty corridors of INRA, Marines were posted on every door, access and secrecy was enforced, you want to have a meeting ? Book it a month in advance, want to leave the project ? Good luck with that you signed a 12 year contract. It was dirty. Yet no one had the courage to say it. It was independently run yes… But it stunk of the grim mark of the Military.

That all changed when our ‘hero’ Rhyan finally lost it, he took to his recorder, and decided enough was enough. The infamous recording that would unveil the scandal surrounding the UEE and its shadey operations and funding schemes was born. Although it would take 100’s of years to reach the media, on the 5th of August 2548 this recording was made :

“I don’t have long. Once they realise i’m gone and the data has been copied, they’ll send their attack dogs after me, I know they will. But someone has to show the empire what the INRA really is – what it’s doing. what its hiding.”

“I’m sorry for the part i’ve played in this, truly. I was a researcher at a facility in the [REDACTED] system exploring agricultural applications of Xi’an Derived Technology. The Lab was owned by INRA. Publicly, the INRA likes to altruistic and cooperative thing. but in recent years its become much more focused weapons testing and manufacturing. Believe me. It’s a military contractor in all but name.”

“The nature of my research was the study of disease-resistance crops and mycoprotiens, that sort of thing. I was getting good results even if my superiors paid no notice. Then everything changed. I was running a bunch of experiments just trying a few things out really. It was an afterthought – it wasn’t even related to my main body of work. The results were interesting and I didn’t think they were particularly significant, but something made me take it directly to one of the INRA guys. I didn’t want to go to doctor prince, she’d always been pretty dismissive of my work.”

“All my equipment and samples were whisked off to some remote facility. Later, I found out they’d been taken to a weapons testing site in the [REDACTED] system. My research was used as the basis of a new super weapon designed to destroy the Xi’an, I heard they experiment on live captives. I doubt any of it was strictly legal. It certainly wasn’t ethical. To the public, the INRA is a symbol of all that is possible when Companies set aside there differences and work together. Well, it might have started off like that, But its something very different now. Progress at any cost, might makes right – all our worst impulses channelled into an unaccountable organisation focused solely on making bigger and more powerful weapons. God. If you find this… if someone finds this, make sure it gets out. Please. It’s time people knew the truth.”

He was right to be scared, the same day he made the recording, the security team at Stuart retreat found and “put down” Rhyan. And the recording stupidly was transferred to the HQ on Venus. This was the first mistake of many over the years that led to our demise, its funny that the one force we weren’t armed to the teeth against was our own, and that was ultimately our downfall.

Shock and Awe

As time marched on management changed, and so too did the ideas that ruled INRA, its a testament to how much the government needed us to think that over the countless changes in politicians, budget cuts and the revises to the military, INRA remained, INRA received all the funding it needed and then some, INRA was a tool no one wished to loose, without it the fear of the Cold war going Hot was a reality humanity couldn’t hope to win. By the turn of the 28th century the UEE’s military was barely keeping up with the Xi’an, reliance on the now 150 year old Microid virus research was stronger than ever. That and a new side initiative manufacturing weapons specifically designed to penetrate the Xi’an’s composites kept INRA busy and worth keeping in the eyes of the UEE.

However it was in the year 2724 a shocking discovery was made, the Xi’an were creating weapons of there own, not a massive surprise to INRA at all, after all the Xi’an would be just as paranoid as we were standing across from our navy, but it shook whatever hope of peaceful resolution with the Xi’an out of the government, and accelerated weapons production across the empire, the initiative was pushed forward, again and again, every time information about the opposing biological weapon was discovered the military pushed harder, until the height of the cold war in 2762, this height was reached due to the First and Last known use of the microid Virus against an active threat. This ‘active threat’ was an unarmed recon ship operating outside Xi’an Space, and the go ahead for a “Completely necessary” use of the microid virus. A Pilot of a lone Constellation delivered the payload directly on target, and the results were spectacular, The ships was immobilised with little structural damage, and was instantaneously filled with the virus’s deadly spoors, filling and clogging ventilation systems as designed, this mixed in with a spectrum wide transmission block sealed the vessels fate, within an hour the clueless ships company sercame to the virus.

Despite the fact INRA a human organisation has just murdered 4 members of the Xi’an Navy, the cold war didn’t spark, and the proof of concept was complete for the weapons, the first official order for INRA’s Weapon was commissioned. Although no official statement was ever made by the Xi’an government, they must have known the missing vessel was a victim of a human incursion. And INRA advised the Navy that the Xi’an were more than likely arming themselves in the same way.

4 years later, 42,568 Microid Missiles had been delivered, along with 3,487 of INRA’s Signature AX weaponry which it was flogging to the UEE through INRA’s Shadow company Aegis Weapons, later sold by INRA and merged with Aegis Dynamics. Civilisation was reaching a point at which it could realistically defend itself from humanities greatest enemy.
However production had just been cancelled, the UEE was in talks with the Xi’an and the delivery of the rather expensive missiles was “satisfactory” for the UEE’s new government overseers in the Navy. INRA was outraged, Funding had been cut in exchange for sales, but INRA swallowed its pride and obeyed.

The Downfall

In the wake of INRA’s distancing from the UEE’s payroll its dependency on weapons sales was emphasised, yet customers for highly expensive Biological weapons that were banned in the first place were hard to come across, its not as if INRA could advertise its weapons. A few sales were made to Independent Banu factions, but these sales were not able to balance the now crippled balance book of INRA

INRA was essentially betrayed by the UEE government, and in the wake of the peace treaty of 2789 INRA’s fate was sealed, after down scalling the company and cutting down on staff continuously for 23 years, it was hideously obvious to thous remaining that the Microid virus was more than likely now never going to see real field usage, even better than that, in the wake of the Peace treaty, the Big wigs that had sponsored INRA within the past had either quit due to the treat, or died of age long ago. INRA was sitting on the largest stockpile of non nuclear WMD’s, had no market for them, and no immunity if they were discovered. As you can imagine it didn’t take long for Investors to ‘disapear’ before they got dragged into the soon to be arriving question of “who the hell funded this organisation?”

We weren’t stupid however, INRA still controlled several large depots of these weapons and factories for said weapons, and was still being contracted out to the Navy as a merchant fleet, INRA had a supply and a shipping method, and it had a commodity to ship. Missiles.
The missiles were shipped from depot to factory, where the payload was removed and disposed of, sadly the location of the dumping ground is still unknown, however the missiles were refurbished and ready to be re distributed for a massive cash injection. And on the 18th Oct 2795 a deal was stuck, 42,000 Empty Missiles and 5438 Empty Torpedoes were sold to the Bearing Company. In which both parties being shady government Arm manufacturers who recently just got screwed over by the peace treaty gritted there teeth shook hands and went back to trying to legalise there business… At least Bearing would have a future.

INRA stuck its head in the sand quite literally, over the next century it would keep its labs running at a major loss of profit in an attempt to keep up its public image in line with all the shiny campaigns it had done to avoid attention, slowly reducing its number of labs as a measure to stop the bleeding of funds, INRA members who knew the origins and truth behind the organisation kept their heads down, and slowly one by one left the organisation.

This was until 2866 In which INRA was approached by the UEE government directly through the Empire Central Intelligence agency, this time they were panicked by Xi’ans incursions into the Perry Line, this mixed with the rising threat of the Vanduul panicked them, not fully knowing INRA’s history the UEE asked INRA if some of its labs could be hired in an attempt to research weaknesses in Allien biology. INRA made its last mistake here, it told the Empire Officials everything.

They were both delighted and highly sceptical, but INRA felt as if it was doing the right thing, INRA was still at its heart ruled by patriots to the empire who believed the empires destiny was to combat the Xeno Threat. So when the UEE turned around and once again graced INRA with the nurturing hand of government funding, It felt to many as if the history of INRA had been revived and development on reproducing the microid virus took off, this time even more integrated with the military INRA continued to strive forward to produce weapons for the goverment, restarting factories that had been dormant for decades.

This went on until 2901 when the V2 was finally finished and the microid virus was ready to rock and role once more, however the Government was uneasy at the weapon, and the enthusiasm INRA had for the project, INRA were giddy when they talked about its successful tests and the live fire exercise that happened back in 2762. So INRA was put on hold, weapons were not ordered in any large quantity but INRA was kept on the side, INRA was happy enough and considered itself to be a major part in the upcoming conflict it foresaw between the Xi’an and Humanity.

Between the turn of the 30th century and the reveal of the scandal that occurred in 2941 INRA enjoyed its position, It kept anti Xeno sentiment running high and continued to look into other methods of arming against the Zeno threat, the famous Stanton division operating in the Stanton system were looking for a weakness in the Vanduul Genome, something that had been worked on just before the end of UEE INRA relations back in 2966. Other More Shadowy projects were running, as they always had, but all were nearly horribly inefficient and nothing as comparative to the Microid Virus.

Sadly however in 2941 Disaster struck, INRA was exposed for the world to see…
The recording from Rhyan got out in either a data breach or an overlook in the security team while refurbishing older servers, surprisingly no one admitted to the leaking of anything intentionally, and the media kept INRA from finding out who the source was, the recording very famously mentioned INRA’s attack dogs, In the early years and more recent while under the protection of the UEE, INRA silenced many prying eyes using its own array of private fighters, people were right to be scared.

With the word out about INRA, Stocks Plummeted. The Shield of Lies were no longer standing up against the truth people didnt understand the necessity of our work, in mere hours the stupid peace lovers back home lost confidence and the Company soon found itself once again abandoned by the UEE, the same solders guarding INRA facilities were ordered to storm our facility’s and ‘cease evidence’. The fighting went on for days as facilities kept the overwhelming navy at bay with what little loyal combatants remained. The UEE eventually attempted to put down all members of INRA before truth about who hired them got out, luckily for us it did.

Several members of INRA’s management fled with thous most dedicated to the cause, eventually we made it to the Stanton system in which we managed to find the a media outlet which would listen. The scandal exploded, within a week all of our facilities fell silent, however the UEE was getting battered with protests, whistle-blowers across the empire were coming out with news about other UEE funded schemes.

The wanted posters came down within a few month, however, our famous fuel tankers, munitions ships and most of the labs, were taken or ransacked. INRA was mostly finished, all that remained was a small band of loyalists.

INRA today

After laying low for almost a decade, and running salvage missions. INRA has scrapped up nearly everything of worth that was left. And under new elected management has redefined itself under a familiar banner, although many consider INRA to be everything humanity should steer clear of, nearly the same amount of people believe INRA was another casualty of a deluded backwards government corrupt to the core and no longer capable of leading humanity. We at least are proud of our heritage.

It is to this end of which INRA hopes to be a light in the dark, no more deluded deals with the government. We mean to rebuild and attack, and to that end what we are going to achieve, that is the will of this organisation. We will rebuild our fleet, we will take on the Xeno menace ourselves. We may be wounded, but we are far from out of this game.

We will regain what the bureaucrats stole from us, we will redesign our weapon, and we will for-fill its purpose…