Earth orbit, Sol system
March 10, 2033, 04:19 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Captain Rebecca Foster allowed her body to float freely as the transport she boarded broke free of Earth’s gravitational pull. It was a reminder that she had crossed the point of no return. She had left Earth and wasn’t going to see it for a long time, if ever. Her home had been given away to her mother, and they had shared a tearful and emotional goodbye as she went on to continue the work of her father, discovering more about the cosmos.
She tried her best to not let it get to her, and reminded herself that if her father was still alive, it probably would have been him aboard the transport packed with UNE navy personnel and IESA explorers, like herself, traveling to their assigned ships.
Just beyond the orbit of the Moon were the Nikola Tesla, Stephen Hawking, Freeman Dyson, and Carl Sagan in a diamond formation. A multitude of transport ships docked with or departed from the four massive ships, unloading crew, colonists, and supplies, while off-loading personnel that were to remain in Sol.
Foster entered the cockpit where a young Asian man with a thin goatee manned the transport. “Hey there, sorry didn’t catch ya name,” Foster said as she floated next to him.
“Chang, Flight Lieutenant Denis Chang at your service.”
“Give us a grand tour.”
“Grand tour?”
“Of the Carl Sagan,” Foster said, pointing toward it through the windshield. “I wanna see it from all angles before we dock.” She looked back at the various navy and IESA personnel behind her. “I’m sure y’all wanna check it too, so come on over!”
Chang grinned as he made the course adjustments on the flight controls before him. “One grand tour of the Carl Sagan coming right up!”
Their transport traveled silently toward the rear of the ship where its idle sub light speed engines were. Afterward he brought the transport around to its side, sunlight beaming off its hull as the transport cast a small moving shadow along it. The tethers that connected the main fuselage to the rear habitat ring were above them as they passed, Foster saw a glimpse of the mess hall through the windows, with people wheeling in kitchen equipment, pots, and pans for the chef and his cook team to use. Maintenance crews in EVA suits traveled to a disk-shaped maintenance hatch on the habitat ring after completing their structural integrity checks on that particular section.
More of the central section could be seen from the left side of the windshield, with personnel in space suits performing last-minute checks of the exterior of the hull, while others applied the finishing touches to the paint job, namely the name of the ship: ESRS Carl Sagan with the logo of IESA beside it and the flag of the UNE adjacent to that.
The forward habitat rings came into view, Chang made sure to slow down the transport as they neared it. The windows of that ring showed the countless families that boarded and were being guided toward their cryostasis pods. Hydroponic bays had small gardens and trees growing inside while botanists attended to them. Although most of the crew will be in stasis, a small rotating skeleton crew will remain awake to tend to the plants and monitor ship-wide systems.
Chang adjusted course, took the transport to the opposite end of the forward habitat ring, and allowed everyone to peer into the windows of the colonization pods that will be used to build the first cities. Small, compact homes and utility facilities were loaded into this section of the habitat ring. Once a suitable planet was found, section by section, the forward habitat ring will come apart and land safely on the surface of the planet, founding the first city. There were enough pods to provide shelter to the thousands of people aboard, as well as basic equipment to build mines, manufacturing planets, water treatment centers, and power generators.
The bridge came up on the next leg of their tour. It was smaller compared to UNE battleships. Foster saw Williams check out the bridge’s layout through the windshields. She waved to him, but he didn’t reply, no doubt he didn’t notice her or the transport that was in front. The final destination of the transport approached as they dipped down to the underside of the ship. Earth was huge in the background, and it was a fitting end to the tour as it was officially the last time everyone aboard the transport would be able to see it with their own eyes without the aid of cameras or recorded images.
“See ya around,” Chang said waving goodbye to the blue world. “Want another round?”
“I think we’re good,” said Foster. “Guess you’re coming with us?”
He began to pilot the transport to dock inside of the docking bay’s entrance located underneath the ship. “Yes ma’am, transferred here from the ESRS Nikola Tesla.”
“Why’s that?”
“My brother and sister were selected to be part of the colonists here rather than the Tesla, didn’t make sense for me to be serving out there when they are out in Sirius,” Chang said. “Besides, at Luhman 16 is just a pair of brown dwarfs . . . doesn’t sound like an exciting adventure to me.”
Earth, space, and the moon below them came out of view, replaced with the interior of the docking bay as the doors behind them slid shut. Everyone got off the transport, like passengers leaving a crowded train only weightless. Foster and Chang continued to talk about the life they were leaving behind and the new life that was awaiting them.
Out from the crowd stepped a woman wearing a UNE navy uniform and magnetic boots that kept her glued to the floor. Foster reminded herself to get a pair of those from the lockup, as she wasn’t fond of having to pull on the handle bars on the walls to gain momentum. The UNE navy woman had auburn hair and the name tag Chevallier on her uniform. It was none other than Foster’s chief of security and leader of all UNE naval personnel aboard the Carl Sagan, Master Chief Mathilda Chevallier.
“Flight Lieutenant,” Chevallier said with her heavy French accent, forcing Chang to salute her.
“Yes, Chief,” he said firmly.
“I think the captain has better things to do than to listen to you ramble, yes?”
“We’re good, don’t worry about it,” said Foster, then she faced the slender yet strong woman in front of them. “So Master Chief you’ll be in command of all UNE personnel then?”
“Actually, that will be Commander McDowell.”
Foster grimaced as she wasn’t informed of the change. Last-minute changes like that never worked out well especially when someone who was supposed to be in command has it taken away. “As of when?” Foster asked.
“As of last night,” said Chevallier. “He was transferred here, I’ll be serving under him.”
“Nice to know that the UNE gave me the heads-up.”
Officially the UNE navy and IESA were two different organizations. IESA employed scientists, explorers, and physicists while the navy brought on combat personnel and crew personnel to assist with the ship’s operations, most notably the Hammerhead team, which Chevallier was a member of. Hammerheads were the successors to the old world special forces groups such as the Navy SEALs, Joint Task Force 2, SAS, Special Boat Service. The name Hammerhead came from the design of their helmets which had two sensor modules on either side of it, giving it an eerie look, similar to a Hammerhead shark. However, with the creation of the EDF, recruitment into the Hammerheads had been scaled back in favor of funneling new recruits into the EDF program as EDF-1 was currently en route back to Earth to help in cross training.
Foster was the captain of the ship, but ultimately was still a civilian in the eyes of the military. While she still called the shots, navy members followed orders given by their CO, apparently Commander McDowell rather than the Master Chief as she was originally told. If Foster needed the navy she relayed a request to their CO who then rallied the troops into action.