diff --git a/sys/vane/alef.hoon b/sys/vane/alef.hoon
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e0fb8296e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sys/vane/alef.hoon
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+=/  protocol-version=?(%0 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7)  %0
+::
+=>
+|%
++$  dyad    [sndr=@p rcvr=@p]
++$  packet  [=dyad encrypted=? origin=(unit @uxlane) content=*]
+::  +rank: which kind of ship address, by length
+::
+::    0: galaxy or star
+::    1: planet
+::    2: moon
+::    3: comet
+::
++$  rank  ?(%0 %1 %2 %3)
+--
+|%
+::  +encode-packet: TODO
+::
+++  encode-packet
+  |=  packet
+  ^-  @uxblob
+  ::
+  =/  sndr-meta  (encode-ship-metadata sndr.dyad)
+  =/  rcvr-meta  (encode-ship-metadata rcvr.dyad)
+  ::  body: <<sndr rcvr (jam [origin content])>>
+  ::
+  =/  body=@
+    ;:  mix
+      sndr.dyad
+      (lsh 3 size.sndr-meta rcvr.dyad)
+      (lsh 3 (add size.sndr-meta size.rcvr-meta) (jam [origin content]))
+    ==
+  ::  header: 32-bit header assembled from bitstreams of fields
+  ::
+  ::    <<version checksum sndr-rank rcvr-rank encryption-type unused>>
+  ::    4 bits at the end of the header are unused.
+  ::
+  =/  header
+    %+  can  0
+    :~  [3 protocol-version]
+        [20 (mug body)]
+        [2 rank.sndr-meta]
+        [2 rank.rcvr-meta]
+        [5 ?:(encrypted %0 %1)]
+    ==
+  ::  result is <<header body>>
+  ::
+  (mix header (lsh 5 1 body))
+::  +decode-packet: deserialize packet from bytestream, reading header
+::
+++  decode-packet
+  |=  blob=@uxblob
+  ^-  packet
+  ::  first 32 (2^5) bits are header; the rest is body
+  ::
+  =/  header  (end 5 1 blob)
+  =/  body    (rsh 5 1 blob)
+  ::
+  =/  version    (end 0 3 header)
+  =/  checksum   (cut 0 [3 20] header)
+  =/  sndr-size  (decode-ship-size (cut 0 [23 2] header))
+  =/  rcvr-size  (decode-ship-size (cut 0 [25 2] header))
+  =/  encrypted  ?+((cut 0 [27 5] header) !! %0 %.y, %1 %.n)
+  ::
+  ?>  =(protocol-version version)
+  ?>  =(checksum (end 0 20 (mug body)))
+  ::
+  =/  =dyad
+    :-  sndr=(end 3 sndr-size body)
+    rcvr=(cut 3 [sndr-size rcvr-size] body)
+  ::
+  =+  ;;  [origin=(unit @uxlane) content=*]
+      %-  cue
+      (rsh 3 (add rcvr-size sndr-size) body)
+  ::
+  [dyad encrypted origin content]
+::  +decode-ship-size: decode a 2-bit ship type specifier into a byte width
+::
+::    Type 0: galaxy or star -- 2 bytes
+::    Type 1: planet         -- 4 bytes
+::    Type 2: moon           -- 8 bytes
+::    Type 3: comet          -- 16 bytes
+::
+++  decode-ship-size
+  |=  rank=@
+  ^-  @
+  ::
+  ?+  rank  !!
+    %0  2
+    %1  4
+    %2  8
+    %3  16
+  ==
+::  +encode-ship-metadata: produce size (in bytes) and address rank for :ship
+::
+::    0: galaxy or star
+::    1: planet
+::    2: moon
+::    3: comet
+::
+++  encode-ship-metadata
+  |=  =ship
+  ^-  [size=@ =rank]
+  ::
+  =/  size=@  (met 3 ship)
+  ::
+  ?:  (lte size 2)  [2 %0]
+  ?:  (lte size 4)  [4 %1]
+  ?:  (lte size 8)  [8 %2]
+  [16 %3]
+--
diff --git a/tests/sys/vane/alef.hoon b/tests/sys/vane/alef.hoon
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ca9500ae8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/sys/vane/alef.hoon
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+/+  *test
+/=  alef  /:  /===/sys/vane/alef
+          /!noun/
+::
+|%
+++  test-packet-encoding  ^-  tang
+  ::
+  =/  =packet:alef
+    :*  [sndr=~nec rcvr=~doznec-doznec]
+        encrypted=%.n
+        origin=~
+        content=[12 13]
+    ==
+  ::
+  =/  encoded  (encode-packet:alef packet)
+  =/  decoded  (decode-packet:alef encoded)
+  ::
+  %+  expect-eq
+    !>  packet
+    !>  decoded
+--