Approximately 1200 years ago, a survey team commissioned by the Alpha Star Council encountered an unknown mining outpost on a newly charted world at the edge of ASC space. With no other expeditions in the area on record, the Star Council assigned an enforcement team to raid what they believed to be an illegal pirate operation. Upon landing, this team discovered an entirely unmanned mining colony, operated by sophisticated technology of unknown design.

With tensions around the recent Hoag mining disaster reaching a boiling point, ASC officials took immediate interest in this new technology, which was apparently capable of harvesting an Alpha world without a manned colony. A research team was quickly dispatched.

As scientists attempted to dismantle and recover this technology for study, they were addressed by a synthetic intelligence apparently operating the outpost, who viewed this incursion as a hostile act. With ASC officials closely monitoring the situation, a dialogue was  established,  defusing a potentially violent conflict.

The Alpha Star Council quickly moved to establish diplomatic relations with the newly discovered civilization of machines. Identifying themselves as the Structs Conglomerate, the synthetics proved eager to engage with the Council governments, as long as they were granted permission to mine worlds in ASC space. Conversely, the Alpha Star Council saw relations with the Conglomerate as an essential opportunity to avoid further disasters like the Hoag incident, hoping to prevent civil war among factions increasingly desperate for reliable sources of Alpha Matter.