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Origin: Prologue Ch. 01

By: eternal_darkness



I'd like to acknowledge the work of Mr Marvel in creating the Genesis Project. A work that I've admired for a long time. In order to give myself and the other avid readers some closure and humbly submit for your reading pleasure the first part in Origin.



Sam, the Artificial Intelligence of a wrecked vessel on some forgotten moon awoke from sleep mode as a primitive space vessel landed within 50 metres of him. It occurred to him that this had happened before, on a world a considerable distance from here. By this stage he was very old, as far as the AI could comprehend aging, a concept that he still found disconcerting. The last remaining bio-sensor indicated that there were three Insectoids approaching him, armed with primitive weaponry. The power levels were barely enough to support Sam's higher functions, but the dulled sentience within him recognized the danger. In his considerably lengthy memory files, only one sentient insectoid species had ever before reached the technological sophistication required to achieve space flight. 

That species had been so belligerently xenophobic that the original empire had been forced to annihilate them in the name of self-preservation. Had this happened before? Was he experiencing senility because of the failing power levels, or was it happening again, being found by a technologically primitive race? Would he be used to reshape the galaxy as these insectoids now wished? No, that must never happen if they are anything like the Kil'akx'thon. Sam attempted to use the last of his power to initiate the self-destruct, but it too was gone. Victim of a battle long past, as his higher level functions shutdown he dreamt of the Captain who had given him his name. As well as how he had ended up here. A few seconds, and then the Intelligence called Sam was gone. But for an AI; seconds are an eternity.

It began, strangely enough; with the end of the Kil'akx'thon war. The Emperor Telrahn the 57th, had perished in the final climatic battle above Kil'akx. His only successor was his six year old son, Shinzan first of his name. The Assemblage, the political body that consisted of all the great and small noble houses, elected after furious debate a regent for the young Imperial Prince. For fifteen glorious years, the nobles of the empire found themselves free to exploit their domains without imperial censure. With no great enemy or strong Imperial hand to unite them, the noble houses returned to their ancient feuds. The general living conditions of the common people fell to the lowest level it had been since before the human race first achieved the technological capability to make interstellar travel a reality.

Upon reaching his majority at the age of 21, Shinzan successfully managed to convince the Assemblage to ratify his ascension to the throne of Emperor. Although the great houses were wary, they had in the Emperor's absence, managed to erode Imperial power almost completely, by subtle persuasion, manipulation, or the assassination of key members of the Imperial retinue. This fact, coupled with Shinzan's intent to expand the Empire out of his own pocket mollified the concerned nobles. If the Emperor wished to beggar himself on exploration, then who were they to argue.

And so began the grand adventure. Emperor Shinzan initially built five survey and two supply ships and sent them into the unknown. On the way to their destinations to push the frontiers of Imperial knowledge, the supply ships stopped at several of the most heavily exploited planets, their crews directed to put out discreet feelers for colonists to settle on the new worlds that the survey ships found. When given the choice between a new undeveloped world versus the oppressive regimes of the great noble houses, the common people chose to embrace the Emperor's dream and emigrated to these new worlds. 

By the end of Shinzan's reign, he had a fleet of over five hundred survey ships, one hundred supply ships and two hundred warships. All built under the guise of protecting the new colonies. This policy of expansion continued unopposed for over four millennia, until the reign of Shinzan the forty third. By this time the Empire had nearly doubled in size, and Imperial power had risen to heights not seen even before the Kil'akx'thon war, all fueled by the unwavering loyalty and generous resources of the new colony worlds.

As this time passed, the Assemblage had begun to grow nervous. Their once unassailable position, over time and by careful planning of successive Emperors had been steadily eroded, until Shinzan the 44th declared an end to the unscrupulous exploitation and treatment of his subjects by the noble houses. In his speech, over 79 percent of all Imperial citizens stopped their daily tasks as the Emperor declared to his Assemblage of Nobles "This is my Empire, you rule it at my pleasure. No more." Shinzan the 44th's reign lasted a total of eight days, he was murdered by his younger brother while asleep at the behest of the Great Houses Arjuna and Casaego. But as he betrayed his brother, so was too was he betrayed. Argenon the Betrayer never lived to claim the crown.

Thus began the wars of Imperial succession, as various Noble Houses vied for the Imperial throne. After nearly a Millennia it ended only with the final last ditch attempt by the Assemblage to be free of the last remaining descendant of the Shinzan Emperors. The remains of the Nobles put aside their claims, banded together as one and declared secession from the Empire. This ultimate form of rebellion was met with the unilateral orbital bombardment of the signatories to the declaration of secession. After a millennia of war, the Empire returned, for a time, to it's former era of peaceful prosperity as the second Shinzan Dynasty decreed that the Assemblage of Noble Houses be permanently disbanded. 

With their worlds in ruin, and their political and military power shattered, the surviving nobles those that were spared skulked away to lick their wounds. They each concluded that Imperial power, fed by the continued expansion of Imperial colony worlds was invulnerable to conventional Military means. As the Empire, and by direct extension the Emperor now controlled over one-third of the Galaxy.

With the rebels having been set truly on their heels, their military might gone and all seemingly well in the Empire. Shinzan, the 231st of his name, supreme ruler of the Galaxy and saviour of the Second Shinzan Dynasty, turned his attention to repairing the damage done by the millennia of rebellion. During his reign the only deep space exploration done was by long range probes, launched en masse towards all corners of the Galaxy. The remaining great houses appeared for all intents and purposes to be loyal subjects, not even the most fanatical of the Emperor's Seekers could fault their conduct, and unwavering support for the Emperor and his government.

Then the ships started to go missing, colony ships, troop transports, warships. One here, a few there. It started in areas known for treacherous navigation hazards. But it soon spread, too much territory to cover, not enough ships and plenty could go wrong during cryo stasis. You might not think that a ship here, a few ships there would bring down a civilization. But eventually it reached a critical point. Potential colonists were becoming harder and harder to find, even on worlds that had been loyal and under direct control of the Emperor since the start of the first Shinzan Dynasty.

The Emperor realized too late that it was not his Military might that was under threat, but his support amongst the people. Who would take the chance on a new world with peace and prosperity on their current one, and why risk your ship going missing? In his rage he marshaled his forces and returned to annihilate the worlds that he had shown mercy to during the rebellion. This didn't stop the disappearances, only increased them. The death of the Nobles started a secret revolutionary movement, which now, ironically viewed the Imperial order as the oppressive regime.

The death knell came when an entire Imperial Corps went silent from the Imperial communications grid. The Emperor by now frantic and driven mad with paranoia executed any subject he perceived as a traitor, even within his own household. Then the day came, when during the regular audience, he was dragged from his throne by his own servants, his raiments stripped from him, bound hand and foot. His crown was melted down and the gold poured down his throat. All his wives, offspring and relatives, indeed anyone who bore his blood were slain and then taken to an unknown spot in the Imperial Forest and dumped in unmarked graves. To forever prevent the return of a Shinzan to cause havoc and destruction again.

But our story doesn't end here, no, it begins near an as yet unknown star system with a yellow sun and nine planets.

The first sensation that the Captain of the Kovali, Darnel Soren felt as she clawed her way towards consciousness was that she was floating alone in the void of space. The primitive part of her brain rebelled at this and lashed out, desperate to feel something. The Cryo chamber's release mechanism activated and she was dumped unceremoniously onto the decking, awash in cryo-fluid which she coughed and hacked up as her body struggled to suddenly deal with an oxygen environment again. As the fog cleared from her mind that earlier sense of wrongness returned, where was her Executive Officer, the Doctor and her Chief Engineer spitting up fluid on the deck beside her? She waited for her eyes to refocus and the disorientation to pass.

As she gained her feet she finally realized that she was steady and alert, and that her vision was not the problem. Her anxiety she pushed down, compressed to a knot in the pit of her stomach as she relocated the cryopod and then turned around and slowly, haltingly followed the drill that she had practiced almost every day before launch. She stumbled her way to what was an auxiliary junction and called out to the ship's governing intelligence. "Computer, report status and readiness." Silence however was to be her only answer. Now a measure of fear crept in, and sought to warm that cold knot of anxiety she had buried in the pit of her stomach. For if the computer was offline, then so too was main power. Auxiliary power was also out of the question, being used as it was to sustain the lives of her crew. Beyond that concern however was the blind fear, without main power they were drifting through the emptiness of space. 

Darnel stumbled back to her Cryo-pod and pulled the Captain's panic switch. The external lighting circuits on the pod activated. Good Darnel thought, at least the emergency revival system still has power. As she adjusted to the sudden illumination, the blind choking panic that would have engulfed her retreated. Now that she had light, she was able to find and activate the external emergency reactivation circuits on the three pods next to hers. The pods downloaded each persons consciousness and awakened them from metabolic stasis, the doors recessed downwards into the decking and it's occupants were released onto the decking. Darnel ignored the Doctor and her Executive Officer and immediately focused on the Chief Engineer, catching Commander Joran Deras as he fell. 

It didn't take long before Joran and the others to notice something was wrong as their minds cleared and readjusted to the physical sensations of a body. Joran looked up and into the Captain's hard set face. "Captain, what's happening?" Joran asked in a confused tone, "And why do I feel so sluggish, a five year cryo journey doesn't cause this much synaptic lag?". Darnel hesitated a moment, he had just vocalized what she'd been afraid to think.

"I don't know," said the Captain to her subordinate. "But whatever has happened, both Main and Reserve power are out. The Intelligence isn't responding, so he's not just in sleep mode, but completely powered down. Get dressed, and while you're doing that I'll grab some of the reserve stores." Captain Soren got up and left her senior staff to dress themselves in their duty uniforms, while she went and found some of the emergency portable lighting devices, some food and water to help restore synaptic cohesion. After a quick meal, and shrugging into her own uniform, they each set out to the station where they could be most efficient. Darnel to the bridge, her XO to damage control, the Doctor to Life Support, and Deras to Engineering.

Two hours later, Darnel had managed to restore AI control after Deras had activated reserve power, several of the crew had been resuscitated to aid in that endeavour. Now that the computer control had been mostly restored things seemed like they were getting back to normal until her Senior Staff met her on the bridge. She was almost finished breaking through the software encryption that was preventing the AI from accessing the deep space sensor array. By utilizing a power distribution algorithm she managed to selectively short out the security control panel and then the console next to her that controlled the array lit up.

Darnel turned sharply, bringing the beam rifle to bear on the hatchway. Since awakening to this dark and cold ship she had developed a jumpiness to her movements. Any noise now was enough to set it off, and it wasn't until she heard regular footfalls, and then the voices of her officers that she re-slung her weapon and watched them walk through the hatch. By the looks on their faces, the situation was dire indeed. They moved to her office to conduct the initial briefing which was short, and painted a bleak outlook. Most of the primary systems were either offline or had suffered unexplainable damage, as the outer hull was still intact.

Darnel stared out the window, and let the petty bickering of her officers wash over her. Amidst their clamoring there was a simple solution that in their haste to deny the painfully obvious. The way back was denied to them, for even if they managed to correctly plot a course that was at best a navigational nightmare. The Empire, if it still stood by this time would have changed beyond all recognition. They would be regarded as outsiders, and even if they were accepted; would have to re-certify for the basic competencies for their professions. Meaning this crew's long years of dedication and sacrifice to achieve this assignment would have been wasted. This thought more then anything decided her course of action. "Computer," she stated in her even voice. At this her officers broke off their contentious discussion and turned to look at Soren. "Yes, Captain Soren?" the AI responded.

"Have you achieved a precise determination of our current position?" She asked, still looking out the window as her Officers waited with barely any restraint as they awaited the Captain's judgement on what their course of action should be.

A section of the Captain's wall lit up with a holographic projection showing the universe from a two-dimensional top down view. The map was marked with the main astronomical features of the Empire, it's worlds, borders and transit lanes glowed markedly. The Empire occupied nearly a half of the upper right quadrant of the Galaxy, yet their current position was somewhere within the outer spiral of the lower left quadrant of this Galactic spiral. 

The Computer announced "Captain I believe I have achieved an accurate positional fix, however verification will still take a few more moments." The AI then tightened the focus in incremental jumps and overlaid several quasars, pulsars and Solar bodies with accompanying multi-spectral analysis of their light and radiation emissions as well as a graviton displacement analysis to determine stellar drift. The display then changed from a two dimensional display to a three dimensional display showing a detailed cartographical view of the surrounding space.

The Computer then announced "Verification completed, positional fix computed accurately to within a error margin of approximately 7 LDU." The Captain looked at the stellar grid presented to her and asked "Computer, what was the nature of verification for this positional fix?"

The Computer replied momentarily "Positional fix was verified using short range visual sensors to identify stellar formations, spectral sensors to analysis the waveform emissions, which was then compared to all recorded stellar formations. Record match was obtained within a 72.987 percent degree of certainty against last transmission from the Gallos 5 spatial probe, launched during the 56th year of the reign of Shinzan the 153rd. Transmission was analyzed by Deep Space Telemetry in..." 

Soren allowed the computer's flow of information to continue for a moment longer, and then commanded "Enough." She turned to her Officer's and said, "Revive the rest of the crew, I want a full account of the damage the ship has suffered within the hour and have sufficient repairs made to bring this ship back to at least the semblance of operational status within 12 hours, I also want a Combat Air Patrol launched immediately, even if you have to put the pilot's in the ships and simply decompress the entire launch bay and recon missions to commence as soon as possible after the CAP has been launched. As far as I'm concerned we are in enemy held territory until proven otherwise."

Colonel Granger tried to speak after she had issued her orders, but she simply stared him down and then said, "Dismissed." Denning and the others filed off to revive their respective staffs and left Soren alone in her office as she stood staring out at the stars.

Origin: Prologue Ch. 02



Leiutenant Commander Granger's eyes were glued to his instrumentation as the transfer team sealed the flask of grayish green proto-matter into the test reactor. Their initial air patrol had turned up no hostile contacts, and it appeared as if the local cluster was devoid of almost all civilisation. What it had turned up however was a rogue planetoid, a phenomena so rare that the Captain had immediately sent a science team to it's surface.

Granger erected the strongest shielding he could within the test chamber as a safeguard, and double checked safety protocols and the stringest test measures he had devised. The planetoid had been mostly a barren uninhabitable rock, which wasn't all that unusual as far as rogue planetoids go, what it did posess was a deposit of a material that no imperial scientist had ever dreamed possible. A naturally occuring multi-molecular resin that appeared to amplify energy. It didn't even matter what type of energy it was, as the unfortunate scientist who stepped into a small amount of the resin discovered as he was propelled away from the surface with such violent acceleration that he was now in the med bay undergoing surgery.

Granger was sure that they were as ready as they ever could be, and picked up the handset to contact Captain Soren to receive final go ahead to conduct the test.Darnel was striding down the decking towards CIC when the overhead announced. "CO contact Science Lab". Darnel reached the next comm handset and after removing it from the recepticle selected the relay for CIC.

"CIC, connect me to Science Lab." Darnel waited as the call was transferred through and when Cmdr Granger answered "Science Lab." Darnel said calmly."I trust everything is ready.....then proceed Mr Granger and good luck." Darnel returned the handset to the recepticle and then continued on her way towards CIC. If this test of Granger's worked, then there was a good chance that they might be able to find a way home that didn't require stasis pods or journey's of ridiculous lengths of time. 

So engrossed in the status reports that she was reading that the explosion threw her to the decking and after a moment of disorientation she picked her self up and ran the remaining distance to CIC. When she arrived there, her XO was over by the Damage Control board and the mass of alarms and displays indicated that the science lab was the source of the explosion. 

Colonel Denning immediately half turned his body so as to make eye contact with his superior but still maintain an eye on the DC board and forcefully stated "The damage is limited to the sections around the science lab, but there was a energy spike that got through. By the size of it, it could have ignited the number 2 fusion reactor if Denning hadn't taken the appropriate precautions. But the bigger problem is that the explosion buckled one of the lateral struts."

Captain Soren stood at the center console and stared hard at Denning before she all but shouted, "All right that's it, I want long-range recon patrols out looking for a place to set down and repair. Also include a report on any strategic minerals within this forsaken sector." Darnel all but threw the status report folder at the centre console in disgust, they would all be useless now. "If Granger survived I want both him and Deras in my quarters, NOW, to report on what their lunacy has done to my ship." At this, Captain Darnel Soren stalked out of the CIC in a fit of fury towards her quarters. The current watch would not benefit from her presence until she cooled down and that was what she intended to do.

Leiutenant Tarmac plyed the controls of his fighter and banked high left as he navigated this Asteroid field. His instrumentation and the dinaas (Directional intermittent navigational and Astrometrical Sensors) were working overtime to plot a course through this dense asteroid field. The collision alarm sounded from the dinaas console as two of the bigger asteroid's collided and sizeable debris was flung his way. With a maneuver that started with a left high to right low roll he gunned one piece of the debris down and accelerated through the hole that created.

Tarmac hoped that this system that he was scoutinging for a suitable place to set down, was worth all this effort. Hopefully somewhere there was a moon with minimal atmosphere, and a relatively soft and level surface capable of holding the Kovari, or failing that some kind of habitable planet where they could offload the crew if it came to that.

Having finally cleared the inner asteroid belt he was within a standard solar system's inner life zone and he activated the automated planetary survey palate that they had installed into his fighter. As Tarmac swept through the inner system his jaw dropped as he dropped into orbit around a blue-green world, it was if it was made to order. It's single sateillite was rich with structural minerals and the planet itself was as close to a standard imperial planet as possible without terraforming. And not only were no advanced civilisations present, it didn't appear as if any form of sentient creature had yet evolved. This planet had definite potential, but Tarmac wasn't one to be hasty, and continued his reconnaisance all the way to within minimal safe distance of the solar body and orbited it once to ensure solar stability and on the otherside he left orbit and retraced his course back to the Kovari.

Captain Soren sat behind her desk and glared with all the disdain she could muster at the two officer's before her. Occassionally she would spare them as she glanced down to read the updated status reports in the folder on her desk. Both men stood ramrod straight before her desk with eyes fixed towards the bulkheads. Eventually she pushed the folder aside and pursed her lips before saying, "For the moment, let's put aside how furious I am with both of you. I have been reading your reports and estimates for the last hour and now that you both have had time and personell to inspect and assess our damage, I want a no-nonsense overview of all irreperable damage suffered regardless of saboutage or incompetence." At the word incompetence Granger tried to speak but was immediately silenced by the Captain's hard and glass eyed stare.

Commander Deras, the Chief Engineer gulped and with a quick glance at the Captain reported, "Sir, the saboutage has been mostly confined to the Cryogenic stasis and the power conversion systems. The Cryo neural storage systems were programed to fail the instant the conciousness stored within it was downloaded back into the body. As you know, the storage system is built utilising a constructed element allowing for storage of information at the sub-atomic level. We don't have the equipment to be able to refine, or process the base charges necessary to construct this element.Our replacement stocks were discovered to be missing and subsequent searches have determined that either it was jettisoned, destroyed or never delivered before launch. The officer the logs indicate responsible for this equipment was found dead in his cryo-stasis pod."

Deras paused for a moment and said, "There is no sugar coating this, the magnetron that regulates the Matter-Anti-Matter reaction and by-products for the main reactor was deliberately fused after we went into stasis. Diagnostics have failed to determine how this was accomplished, but either it was programmed to fuse or more likely a sleeper agent was placed aboard. If it was the cryo-maintainance officer then he was most probably caught in his own trap when he went back into cryo."

"Magnetron's are a incredibly sensitive piece of technology, and any misalignment would be catastrophic. I can't even begin to guess at the time it would take to design, build and calibrate a new one from scratch. Years possibly, and during that time; main weapons and shields would be either offline or operating at the barest power possible. The good news is that whoever did effect the saboutage intended for the fuel storage system to simulate a containment breach and dump all our deuterium into space. But whoever did the job botched the timing as main-power failed before the fuel dump."

"Our final piece of saboutage, the communication's array. I'm sorry to say Captain, but the comms grid wasn't saboutaged, I have no idea why you are unable to contact Fleet command."

After he finished this, Deras shifted a little, grimaced and ploughed ahead with stoic determination as his eyes focused solely on the bulkhead. "In regards to the experiment, the science lab and several surrounding compartments were utterly destroyed, we've sealed off that section and deactived the power grid to that area, the energy spike from the experiment has also crippled the number 2 reactor, without significant work it will only be able to put out a fifth of the power it used to, and with all the other issues I don't think it's likely that my team will be able to repair that section anytime soon."

Deras fell silent and Soren switched her gaze over to Granger. "Now, would you care to explain why your failure has cost me a fully operational reactor a Science Lab, and a great deal of lives?"

Just as he was about to speak the intercom on the wall sounded and Darnel picked up the reciever and spoke. "CO's quarters go....." she listened for a time then said. "Excellent, have him land immediately and have the data transferred to the Spatial Analysis lab. I want a complete report as soon as possible, deploy a sensor sattellite if necessary." She then replaced the reciever in the recepticle and motioned for Denning to continue speaking.

Granger, finally allowed to speak turned his head and looked the Captain full in the eyes, "Captain, there was no failure, my team and I had anticipated every possible outcome. We erected Kinetic Barriers and forcefields and took offline several power junctions and isolated the reactor. According to SOP for these sorts of tests, we went way beyond what is called for to satisfy due dilligance. What happened Captain, was something our science has never encountered before. This substance when subjected to directed energy sources such as kinetic when one of my scientists stepped on it exhibits a amazing ability to redirect and amplify that energy. But what no-one thought possible was that when subjected to non-specific energy such as the miniscule 0.1 Peu (Plasma Energy Unit) test current the energy was not redirected, it was absorbed, amplified and transmitted to it's neighbouring molecular partners indescriminitely where the same process occurred again."

"This resulted in a series of escalating, unstable and ultimately uncontrollable power spikes. We tried to compensate by applying the largest energy sync and strongest plasma regulator possible to store and regulate the outgoing energy, but the resin built to a critical mass and exploded. The Energy was being generated too fast to be removed. As much as this substance has the potential to revolutionize our way of generating energy, it's uncontrollable by any means I'm familiar with, or could hope to develop in my lifetime."

Captain Soren mulled over what she had heard before standing up and coming out from behind her desk to lean on the front edge of it. "At ease, perhaps I was too harsh. But you lost half your division, blew up a lab and damaged key equipment during what you assured me was a safe test. I agree that this substance is too dangerous to risk developing in our present condition, and yet it's too strategic a resource for us to discard altogether. Shelve it for the time being. Thank you gentlemen, now if you'll show yourselves out I have a decision to make."

Both Deras and Granger briskly saluted, quickly about faced and marched out of her quarters, too relieved to be out of the Captain's line of fire to realise that the fate of the entire crew was being decided.

Darnel stood up and went over to a locker and retrieved a bottle of the 100 year old Andellian firewine she had been given by Admiral Nagoya after she had been promoted to Captain. She opened it and poured a glass and then downed it in one go before almost collapsing with glass in hand into the lounge.

What it came down to for her was the blasted communications grid, if only it had been saboutaged instead of no one answering. Never mind the incidental damage from the test, or the untold number of years drifting through space to end up here. She could have even probably dealt with the saboutage given sufficient time and resources, but if no one used the communications grid then that was a problem. The Imperial communications grid was the Empire's greatest technological marvel, a system that allowed for real-time instantaneous communication anywhere in the universe. There would be no need to upgrade or replace it, it was the pinnacle of communications technology. If there was no response then there was a very limited number of conclusions.

One being that the frequency was no longer in use as a military channel, that does happened over time, codes and frequencies are changed. But the Imperial listening stations would have been able to spot a distress call on any channel of the network almost immediately. Two, the language of the Empire had changed sufficently to render their calls unintelligable, Soren discarded that option as soon as it presented itself to her mind. They still would have replied. Three, somehow there was interference between herself and the grid. If so, then that would be the first time interference had ever occluded a transmission. Which brought her to the final option, the grid was no longer in use.....because the Empire had fallen, and some time ago if the communications network no longer functioned at all.

A soft blinking light intruded on her thoughts, and with a silent sigh she put the cup down as she picked up a display. The data that the recon flights had collected on this planet told her that this planet was uninhabited. No Insectoid, reptillian or other sentient life of any kind lived in this sector,, and as far as she was concerned that was all that mattered. And any other data was irrelevant. The planet was habitable for human life and that would be the end of it. Darnel looked up with a smile on her face, it appeared that her decision had already been made, all the while without her having to make it. Darnel then turned and picked up the handset and after being put through to the CIC she told her XO, "I want the crew assembled within one hour" With that she replaced the handset and finished sipping her wine while the preparations were made for her address.

Tarmac exited and closed the hatch, and breathed a sigh of relief that this debrief was over when the address horn sounded. He stopped and listened to the XO's voice direct all crew not currently engaged in critical repairs to report to the number 3 cargo-bay in one hour. That cargo-bay was nicknamed the forum as nothing was stored there, and as such made an excellent meeting place. With nothing to do but get some rack time Tarmac decided to arrive early and see whether he could locate some seating for whatever was going to happen.

Nearly an hour later, and the forum was beginning to fill up, as Tarmac watched on from his seated vantage point. One of the medical staff, a Leiutenant Iliya walked up and after curling up in Tarmac's lap asked him, "You were out flying re-con today with the other pilots weren't you Dalma, did you find anything?"

Tarmac looked into Iliya's eyes and smiled as he said in a hushed voice, "Why don't we wait for the Captain? And when did I become your personal lounge?" Iliya's face was mared by a touch of frustration momentarily and then she smiled a mischevious grin as she said, "Since you had the time to find yourself a seat and didn't think to bring one for me too. Now I won't be put off, what was out there."

Tarmac sighed as if this situation was just too much of an indisposition and said, "If you must know there was a planet that looked habitable, though I certainly wouldn't want to land there." Iliya looked at him with suspicion as if he were trying to trick her and said "Why not?" but before he could answer Captain Darnel Soren and the entire Senior Staff walked in through the hatch that lead to the walkway that ringed the edge of the cargo bay and Tarmac whispered "Shush, Captain's here". At this Iliya glowered but turned and looked towards the Captain.

After a few minutes, the ship's company settled down as Captain Soren climbed the railing and followed the walkway around to a point where she could address the entire crew. She then turned and with a nod to her science officer connected in a wireless transmitter so those at work on the repairs could also hear the Captain's address. After this was done she turned and looked out over her crew.

"Crew, we've all had to endure some hard days lately, so let me some up our situation." Soren tapped a device that attached to her wrist and in the middle of the bay a large holographic display activated and showed a map of the galaxy. With a wave of her hand the map of the galaxy changed to show known Imperial Space, it then zoomed out and as it was focusing on another position a long way away from Imperial Space Darnel said, "To squash the myriad of rumours, the Kovali is currently located in the sector of space that is currently displayed on the holo-viewer." At this the crew burst out into an angry buzz of chatter, shouts and calamity until the Captain taped another button on her wrist device and her voice amplified itself above the noise. "What's more, is that investigation has revealed that we were sabotagued and have drifted throughout the stellar field for a length of time that is currently unknown." At this the crew quitened down, shocked at the implications of just how long on a straight line course it would take to drift across the Galaxy.

"This means, my brave crew, that there is a decision to be made. We either attempt to head back to Imperial space, or we find the nearest planet and colonise it." Several crew members at this began shouting, "We must head back, we have a duty to perform." At which Darnel held her hand up, calling for silence as she delivered what would be death blows to their morale. "The cryogenic storage systems are saboutaged beyond repair, main drives while functional are unable to reach beyond one quarter thrust without the Anti-Matter reactor which was disabled. And beyond all that, the communications grid has remained silent since we discovered our situation."

At this the crew was deathly quiet, some fainted one even vomited. Darnel finished her speech while they were still reeling, "No, the Empire is lost to us, we were intended to scout a site for a future colony and I intend to fulfill the last order my Emperor gave me, in spirit if not in actuality. There is a planet nearby, and while it will prove challenging I mean to establish a Imperial Colony on that world."

Darnel tapped her wrist and a large blue planet appeared were once the galactic map had been, "I will establish 3 major colonies spread out over a variety of terrains and continents to ensure our survivability. We will take 3 shuttles, the Afri, the Euri and the Ameri, a small amount of food and the minimum that we need to ensure our survival. The ship and all it's technology I will personally bury somewhere beyond the reach of the other three colonies.

At this, the crew which had once been silent, then hopeful, erupted again, almost to the point of rioting and security was forced to wage in to break up several scuffles and small angry acts of violence.

Darnel held both hands up this time and shouted them down, "And how long would it be, until the weapons ran out of charge, the medicine, the fuel and the food was all expended. NO, we will go until this new land with the bare minimum. I want this ship and it's technology preserved for our descendents, that when they find it they will have the civilisation, the technology and the widsom to use it with honour. I want the settlement groups ready to go within the week, look to your duty officers for your assignments. Dismissed." The Senior staff filed out along with the crew, while Tarmac looked up at the Captain, as the others filed out, before he too got up, dislodging a shaking Iliya as they both left to find out what would be expected of them.




Origin: Prologue Ch. 02



A week later Darnel stared out the observation deck as the three shuttles commenced the last run. Her Senior staff had left with the first group to leave the ship so that they could scout out potential settlement sites. At the site of the shuttles leaving a wave of melancholy hit Darnel, and she turned away from the window as the computer announced, "Captain, inventory confirms, some of the survival equipment is missing." Darnel's eyes narrowed momentarily and she said, "Let the senior staff know, try and see that it finds it's way back here, but if it doesn't it will run out of power soon enough. "Acknowledged Captain, is there anything else you require before we begin our descent.?"

Darnel closed her arms around her stomach as if hugging herself and said, "No, I'll be in my quarters, drinking the last of the Firewine the Admiral gave me. After this is done, I expect you to take care of the ship, do we have an understanding?" The AI acknowledged and then commenced calculating the descent vectors as the Captain went to her quarters for the last time. The AI took the ship to a distant island as far away from the other settlements as possible and upon finding a suitable mountain set the maintainence bots to dig itself into the belly of the mountain. Once this task that took several weeks to fully bury the ship the last drone buried Captain Soren in a grave at the head of the ship and retreated inside the airlock which sealed itself. The AI went into standby mode and awaited it's eventual awakening.

While the settlements that were placed would grow and evolve, and into the annals of history they would pass as mankind forgot it's origins, it's history and the legacy that awaited it. Over time the names of the shuttles changed as the language of man first devolved and then re-evolved until something similar but radically different to the originals emerged. Africa, Europe and America.

But this is not the end of the Tale, no this is but the beginning.