The decade that follows Papa Zito's election for president is a decade of change, shifts in the status quo so violent the galaxy will never be the same again. Change is coming, and nobody quite knows what the outcome will be. Tensions have reached a boiling point within the galaxy, and ancient powers awaken.
It started with a dramatic shift within the galactic political scene. The Scummer Moderation Collective made peace with the Compact of the Snuggly Duck claiming a number of their systems. They had grown bored of the war and had now laid their ambitions elsewhere.
The Collective had namely laid their eyes upon Mafia-451, and their neighbours the Mt'd which until now had been practically ascetic to all the happenings within the universe. Nobody quite knew who the Mt'd were beyond that they existed. The Collective demanded that the Kingdom become a protectorate under their authority, a demand they accepted knowing they stood no chance in a war. This granted the Collective access to extra manpower, which they used to build up their fleet even further. Making use of natural wormholes they then declared war upon the Mafia-451. The outcome of this war may radically change the balance of power within our galaxy.
A flurry of further war declarations followed by other civilisations, the focus of the 451 now being elsewhere. This gave all a window to expand. The Council of Storm-Z declared war upon Mafia Universe which had been losing territory and ships in their attempt to defend themselves against The Nameless. The WGE-22 Experiment which had largely abstained from conflict for now centuries declared war upon the Dread Empire. The Mbuyan Progenitors were displeased by the rapid expansion of the Nameless once more, and thus the Fallen Empire mobilised their forces once more to teach them yet another painful lesson. The fragile stability of the galaxy was falling apart.
This was not all however, for our diplomats noticed a previously overlooked civilisation in the centre of Mafia-451 territory that via some means was holding out against their overwhelming force. What's more, is that it was lead by the U'i! A number of U'i had apparently rioted and seized control of an interstellar habitat, resisting the purge of the 451 which would see them all turned into mindless cyborgs bent to their will. They had declared independence and held their own against all attempts to pacify them. This alone is impressive, if not admirable, but things just got worse. The U'i have developed the technology required for a "Colossus", a weapon so devastating it could crack worlds or raze all life in the blink of an eye. Should they garner the resources to construct it, all would be in peril...
And things just kept getting worse...
For the Druthean Enforcers had awakened.
There had been reports of increased activity for numerous years, yet they had all been disregarded. No longer. Ancient shipyards were whirring back into action creating vessels armed with technology even we have yet to dream of. The Druthean slumber no more, they hunger for glory, they want to reclaim their place amongst the stars. Woe to all those that stand in their way.
In reaction to the newly awakened super power Mafia Universe, which was allied with the Correct Path, made peace with the Urist Commerce League. The Compact of the Snuggly Duck being one of the civilisations near the Druthean feared for their own, and was asked to join the Celestial Axis. They accepted due to the aforementioned concerns, further expanding the federations galactic reach.
Locally we were also experiencing impressive change. Both the Matrioshka Brain and the Star-Lifter were completed, granting us access to both immense research capabilities and minerals. The computational power was so strong it sextupled our research productivity, and a rapid spree of breakthroughs in many fields followed with no sign of slowing.
One of the breakthroughs we made was in communication technologies, allowing us to broadcast messages to our planets and vessels at a faster than light speed. As we adapted our comms-systems we picked up upon a looping-transmission from within our own territories, not coming from our own. We decoded it...
The Vaitral were broadcasting from a planet circling a star we previously assumed had no bodies orbiting it. A research vessel was dispatched.