Chapter 1: Prologue
In Earth lower orbit, UESS New Horizon is preparing the most ambitious feat the human race has attempted; to colonize Alpha Centauri System. This state-of-the-art vessel carries 7,000 or so colonist, crew, necessary supplies and equipment to be self-sufficient.
Captain Jaargen
UESS New Horizon Bridge
An elegant man in a UEC Aerospace Force launch uniform, tall and proud looking man with grayish beard peeking through his helmet is the captain of New Horizon overseeing his crew doing pre-flight checks. A huge atmosphere can be sensed in the bridge, the crew including Jaargen is extremely under pressure as this is humanity's first ever attempt to colonize an exoplanet. He has been to Proxima B before for a science mission, but this pressure is different altogether as there are more people, larger reputation and investment at risk. He paid these to no mind as he trusts in his experience as an astronaut and in his starship which passed the space trial with flying colors.
"Captain, the last batch of crew capsule have disembarked, the colonists are already in their quarters."
"Good, commence preflight checks."
Just like that the crew went to their respective stations, in spite of the pressure humanity placed on them, they work like clockwork.
"Flight systems check."
"AI systems check."
"Sub light engines check."
"FTL Drive check"
"Life support check"
Several minutes have passed to finish preflight checks and the crew are ready to depart Earth's orbit. This is it, finally the moment has come. Their names will be in the history books just like Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong and the enthusiasm and nervousness can be seen in their eyes.
"Signaller, open channels to the whole vessel."
"Ladies and gentlemen, crew and colonist. This is your captain speaking. In a few minutes we will break off Earth's orbit and will set course to our new home, Proxima B. I know how nervous you are as no human has ever done this before at this scale but worry not as I will make it sure that we will be humanity's greatest achievement. You are the anchor as we set foothold on a new world as will be the model for future colonization. Stand proud as we are Earth's beacon for the future and shine it upon them, we shall. So, sit and relax as we take you over the horizon. God speed."
Fire in the colonists' hearts were burning as the light over the horizon is shining upon them brightly. Doubts were extinguished instantly as determination took over the crew and passengers. New Horizon already broken off orbit and is already enroute to their destination. Sub light engines is at cruise speed as they take the necessary distance from Earth to initiate FTL Jump. Captain said his last few words to Space Command as they enter to FTL.
Weeks have passed since they left Earth and is on course as expected. The condition of the colonists is normal, and days have passed without any incidents. This is to be expected as the colonists along with their family were carefully handpicked to be the right person on the job to jump start a colony along with their professionalism and ethical alignment. Drama and mutiny are the last thing they need in this journey. Suddenly a bright light filled the bridge followed by alarms blaring as they try to grasp the situation.
"Captain, we've hit a gravitational anomaly!" One officer said.
"Gyroscope is malfunctioning!" the navigation officer exclaimed.
"FTL drive is over capacity! At this rate we will--!" Flight engineer's voice was cut.
Another bright light filled the bridge but this time a large bang can be heard, and they suddenly fell out of FTL Jump. Alarms are still blaring over the bridge as the crew are trying to assess the situation while the vessel is tumbling out of control in the empty space. Captain Jaargen is awfully worried but managed to hide it from his crew and he cannot afford to start a panic. His mind is running in overdrive.
"Pilot, fire maneuvering thrusters and stabilize the starship."
"Signaller, dispatch a courier with a mayday transmission."
"Damage report, how bad is it?"
"We have lost FLT Drive and sub light engines are damaged."
"There were reported injuries in the engine room but fortunately no fatalities. We are checking on our passengers if there are any casualties."
"Aside from the engine room, there are no reported damages."
Jaargen is somewhat relieved as the damages are not how he feared it would be. He still can't shake off that dread as they are not out the woods yet until the mechanics fix the engines to continue their journey. This will take them additional weeks in transit to reach Proxima B but that won't be a problem since this starship is designed to be self-sustainable. This doesn't seem so bad Jaargen thought.
"Captain! I'm unable to dispatch a courier because I can't pinpoint Earth." As the signaller said in confusion.
"What do you mean you can't pinpoint Earth? We lost our navigation star map too?"
"No sir, I mean our star map cannot recognize our location as the stars are different."
"That's impossible, our speed is not enough to blow us off course for our triangulation to be unrecognizable. Have you adjusted the error probability?"
"Yes sir, no matches even below 70%. I've even ran diagnostics. We are completely lost something like we were teleported somewhere."
"Navigator, any news on your end?"
"Yes sir, we are currently in a G type star system but not Alpha Centauri as this is a mono star system. We are not in Sol either. No match in our star map database, we don't know where we are."
"Noted, scan this system while you're at it. We need to orbit a planet while were trying to reach Earth."
Problems are piling up and need a resolution fast. The crew are confident in their captain and are willing to feed him all the data they have so that he can come up a solution. They are trained for this and will stop at nothing for the safety of the souls in this starship. While the crew are in overdrive trying to gather all the information, they need to understand the situation. Then a warning just popped up in the HUD of the navigation officer. This is it; this might be their doom or salvation depending on their captain's decision.
"Captain, we are on a collision course to a planet ETA 17 hours!" Exclaimed by the navigation officer.
"Get me engineering, ask them when will the sub light engines be operational! Contact science bay get more information about that planet. We might set orbit into that." Commanded the captain.
Minutes passed into hours; every second they spent felt like hours as they are waiting for the necessary data of the planet to enter orbit. Then finally the news came. It was not as good as they hoped. The sub light engines are extremely damaged that there's only one more burn left until it completely destroyed, and that last burn is not enough to set the trajectory into orbit. The bad news was balanced out by some good news. The planet is situated in the habitable zone and its makeup is identical to Earth, humans can survive in this world. Captain Jaargen is thinking about the pros and cons of the decision he is about to make.
"Alright! Seems like we're on a pinch here and fortunately we have a viable option, we will initiate planetary entry and aim for this forested region. As this is the only possible location with a water source by this river running through here. This is the best suitable location to set a colony. Pilot initiate planetary entry maneuver and fire sub light to slow us down to precise speed for re-entry. Signaller, open channels to the entire starship, I need to address the crew and passengers."
Somewhere in the starship inside the colonist's quarters, people were worried as they don't know what the loud bang was about. There was no update from the crew and all they know is that the crew asked them to stay in their quarters as per captain's order. They kept out of the dark for hours then finally the intercom and display panel in their quarters lit up, it was their captain. The sole person they trusted their lives with.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. At about 4 hours ago, we ran into a gravitational anomaly in transit to Proxima B. This anomaly blew us off course and disabled our ship but fortunately there were no fatalities. We may not be headed to Proxima B as intended however this will not give us despair as the ray of hope has not abandoned us. We are enroute to a planet and we will be there in a few hours. This is not just a planet, this is a planet identical to Earth in terms of size, gravity and atmosphere. This is more habitable compared to the one was intended to go. I have decided to land on this planet as this is the only choice we have given with the predicament we are in right now. Worry not! This planet is more than what we asked for and, on this planet, we shall start our clean slate as human pioneers. See you on the surface!"
Governor Bertha Loua
UESS New Horizon Hallway to the bridge.
She's on her way to the bridge as Captain Jaargen asked for her to join the briefing. She cannot believe what she heard from the message. As per protocol she does not have any authority yet until the colony established planetfall. More questions generated than answers. What did Jaargen meant a different planet. She can't shake off that feeling that there's something bad is going on. Finally, Bertha arrived in the bridge and took a quick scan around.
"Ah! Governor, welcome to the bridge. Please, have a seat." Said Jaargen.
"Captain, what is the situation? Why am I still worried after hearing your reassurance?" Asked Bertha with a tone of doubt.
"The ship is not in imminent danger if that's you're worried about. We are currently gathering data to what had caused this, but we are still focused on the problem at hand and that's where you come in."
"What I'm about to tell you is unbelievable and yet it's true. We are in this situation right now and there's nothing much I can do anymore. I'm confident in your ability that's why I invited you for a briefing to plan our best next action." Jaargen continued.
Captain Jaargen left no details about what happened. She can hardly believe it that they were transported to somewhere that even the star map can't recognize. Worse part is they have no way to communicate with Earth. Science team also detected some fauna around the LZ and its potentially predators. Captain Jaargen reiterated that since there's no way to pinpoint Earth, the crew cannot return thus they decided to stay with the colony as the de facto defense force. Bertha listened to the proposals Jaargen offered as she planned for the amendments of the procedure for colonial establishment to be more suitable for this planet as it was originally planned around Proxima B planet in mind. It took them few hours going back and forth for the bullet points needed to accomplish upon planet fall.
"Thank you, captain, for cooperating with me. I will be expecting your support when needed in the future. I request a copy of the planet's data and the plans so I can talk these through with the council. We have to change a lot of things once we set foot on the surface." Bertha bid her farewell to Jaargen as she returns to her quarters.
Several hours had passed after she returned from the bridge. It is already time for planet fall as the crew announced it through the intercom. Landing lights are on, and she is now waiting in her quarters. Lights in whole ship were turned off as emergency lights illuminates the room. This is normal procedure during reentry, this only indicates that they are almost there, their new home. The home they know little about. She can only pray that this 'disaster' is survivable without Earth's support. Tears fell from her eyes as there's no hope to come back to Earth but she needs to be strong as she needs to be the foundations for these colonists to survive and prosper.