literature

The First Hour

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January 5th 2503: National History Channel, Galactic Mystery

The show aired late in the day about nine in the evening for most localities, and it was arranged as normal. The introduction was that of a photo-film montage of mankind’s historical events all streaming past the viewer’s vision towards a point as the great inventions of given time periods flitted across the edges of the screen. As the view panned slowly downwards with the date shown up top ever increasing towards the current year a glowing point was seen before finally a flash of white light and the Galactic Mystery Logo appearing from the white light and the background stabilizing to that of a swirling milky way. The image faded to black before refocusing on that of the shows normal set with an individual standing before the camera. The person present clearly was the host as he was the only one present on a set full of artifacts from the time period in question as he had always been; he was dressed quite well for one of his task and stature and clearly had an air of experience about him. Carefully managed hair showed streaks of grey and the creases under his eyes showed he had some age but not too much. The host was clearly someone who could appeal to the older and younger with equal effect.

“Good evening and welcome back to another episode of Galactic Mystery, I am your host David Clark and today we will be looking at the mystery of the colony fleet Echelon Verbatim Nine. Perhaps some of you are familiar; EV9 as it was called in shorthand was the colony fleet that went missing in 2032. Many theories as to the nature of the colony fleet had been posed over the last few centuries, and the discovery of wreckage in the fleet’s theoretical flight path in 2114 had almost solved the mystery.  However we now know the details of what happened and it is our exclusive pleasure to present the whole story unedited and with limited commercial interruption in this extended Galactic Mystery episode for your consideration. Stay tuned, because what has been uncovered will be quite the tale to tell.”

As the host pauses in the background a subtle but present music begins to play. The volume of the song was at first low gut as the singer of the song’s words came to prominence it was clear what the song was. The music was comparatively ancient but for those viewers who had actually served in planetary navies it held a special significance. The song was both honoring and yet sad, telling the tale of a vessel long lost.

[Link to song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6h… ]

“EV9 wasn’t just any colony fleet; they were launched in 3032, long after the SSC had worked most of the kinks out of their Hyperspace drives. SSC command had in later days wished to test them by reaching out to colonize a distant target. The objective of EV9 was the distant solar system of PX-909/A51. It was a rare solar system with three class M planets situated in stable orbits amidst a trinary system consisting of three equally aged stars of the blue, yellow and green type. The system had sixteen planets in one orbit and another twelve in another making it a serious resource to anyone daring to land. As the SSC needed another incentive probe surveys found the target worlds devoid of life more complex then advanced plant life. It all seemed so perfect and a critical point of advancement.”

Images of the colony fleet, its vessels and the information relayed by deep space probes flicker across the screen including the top analysts of the day. Rothera Weekly headlines appear shortly after proclaiming the system the ideal location for moving the hub and that it might be the salvation of the SSC in an increasingly violent Earth. Long articles from SSC-published scientific articles appear along with images of those whom wrote them. All of the information overlays construction images of the colony fleet in the making as workers build the vessels at the Mars shipyard. From bare bits of metal vessels emerged, some of the most advanced for the time period. In one montage a colony ship in accelerated speed was built from mere structural to a fully operational ship, in others the rest of the vessels of the group were too built in much the same way. All of it was included to show the fleet was more or less a military escorted civilian operation.

“All seemed well and good for EV9…the ships were built in record time and had passed rigorous maiden voyage testing with no noteworthy flaws as seen. Early evidence did point to a few minor problems but those were noted and repaired months before the colony group was to be launched and  the ships were tested several times after to verify their ability. The launch date was set for January 5th 2032, and the personnel were finally selected. The naval commander was Lower Rear Admiral Eduard Latrec, General Mary Stuart represented the planetary security contingent, Deidre Daumier represented the fleet’s prospectors and mining concerns and the civilian representative was Ibsen Courbet. Despite earlier shows regarding this matter we now know that the apparent loss of the colony fleet was not an act of negligence of any of the four. In fact each acted commendably and finally uninterrupted we have the entire story here for you. This is the tale of EV9.”


January 5th 2032: SSC Mars Shipyards

The colony fleet began its final maneuver to safe distance off the Shipyards as the last of the starship tugs moved away. The refining vessels of the group  were the last to join the formation as they lacked the maneuvering of the rest and expressly needed tow craft to moved them into tight formations such as the one used today. The comparatively tiny starship tugs zipped about relative to their larger starship cousins and headed back towards several bulk craft carriers in the group. In reality the fleet itself was an angular affair in complete opposition to what the SSC would become upon the accidental opening of a rift between Jupiter and Saturn in a few short years. As it stood the best of the SSC’s starship were boxy and utilitarian, with equal amounts of early space travel appearance and tiny bits of more advanced technology hidden in the ships.

Earth’s flight control ran their course checks several times over verifying the plotted series of hyperspace jumps the fleet would take and the media recorded the event with the right sort of enthusiasm given the great distance involved. It was after all the longest distance colonization in mankind’s history. The target sector was being unofficially named ‘Diderot’ and it stood to be the greatest material and economic boon to the SSC imagined. Final boarding of personnel and equipment was made and the last of the preparations for the colony fleet were made. It now became a matter of the countdown as the assembled capitol starships began to synch their hyper drives preparing to leap forward into the unknown.  The photo and video montage shifts back to the image of the hose standing amidst several artifacts from the ‘lost’ colony fleet. The host is looking at the viewer and gestures to a small model replica of the fleet positioned in their pre-launch arrangement.

At the stroke of Ten PM on January the 5th 2032 the fleet would leap into the history books as a mystery that went unsolved for several centuries. They never made it to ‘Diderot’, in fact unbeknownst to us, they never even made it back into our own galaxy…they landed far away in a galaxy that would take us even with today’s technology several decades to reach. This is the story of the lost sixteenth colony, recently discovered centuries later through distant communication only.  Please stay tuned, for the next two hours we will recount the entire story of what happened, but first we have a brief commercial break.
This is the starting post for the SSC's ill-fated colony fleet to establish the 16th colony. Eventually SSC would assemble another colony group several years later but the mystery of what had happened to the fleet intended to colonize Diderot gets solved some centuries later. This of course is the first post of the New Nexus RP. Please let me know what you think.
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JadeOfMaar's avatar
This was a nice read. :nod: I'm eager to see the actual story of the lost colony, and I imagined Morgan Freeman as the host/narrator.
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