Captain Lynn of the Holy Terra surveyed his bridge. Everyone was at their stations, although it was obvious that tensions were running high – droplets of sweat fell from anxious faces onto control panels. A timer on the main screen steadily counted down.
“We, along with the Holy Luna and Holy Mars, will be the first ships to leave the solar system, where all of humanity has, up until this point, lived and died. In mere moments, the massive warp engines will engage, and we will find ourselves lightyears away from this place… or so the scientists, all of whom are watching from a safe distance, tell me,” Lynn gave a sickly smile to the rest of the crew, receiving a few halfhearted chuckles back.
The timer hit ten seconds. The captain looked over to the acolyte in purple robes and gleaming silver armor, who nodded solemnly.
Lynn hit a button, connecting him to the entire ship. “All crew, brace for transition.”
The timer reached zero.
Millions of miles away, the images of three ships vanished as if they’d never existed, leaving only the empty blackness of space.
“Well, that was rather understated,” the Prelate remarked to no one in particular, “I was expecting there to be some flashing lights or arcing electricity – maybe a giant wormhole opening in a spray of exotic particles in the ether.”
“Wait, what? Did I miss it?” said a muffled voice.
“Of course you missed it, Councilman Veras – we would have had to install a holoprojector into your attendant’s breasts for you to see it,” said the Prelate dryly.
“Huh, I wonder…” Veras muttered to himself.
The Prelate punched in a combination on a panel next to his throne. The three blank outer space video feeds shifted to one side, and a man with a blond bearded face and a collar loaded with insignias popped into view.
“Prelate,” the man said, giving a nod of greeting.
“General,” the Prelate replied, his face impassive, “was the experiment a success? All I can see is that thousands of tons of men and materials just winked out of existence, without even an entertaining light show to go with it.”
“The scientists are saying that, according to their instruments, everything went exactly according to plan. If they’re right, we should be seeing something right about… now.”
In the blank screens, suddenly the forms of the scout ships Holy Terra, Luna, and Mars reappeared without fanfare, as though they had never left. Moments later, additional windows started to appear: camera feeds of stars, labeled as Psi Ceti – a dual system of dull red stars, hosting only two lonely comets – Alpha Centauri – another dual system, containing four planets and four moons around the primary and four planets and thirty moons around the secondary – and Wolf 359 – home to a small Mercury-like planet and a gas giant.
“All three survey ships have reported back to Sol space, systems nominal. Humanity now has access to the stars, Prelate,” said the General.
“This is exceptional, General – we live in exciting times! Orders for additional survey ships are greenlighted; and we will see about fast-tracking the research that claims we can ‘stabilize’ these points in space, allowing for travel without the need for bulky warp engines. If we can do that, we should be able to open these new worlds to exploitation and colonization by the faithful. The Church will grow.”
“The Church will grow,” echoed the General.
Note: I hope to get these out more often - at this rate, I'll forget what happened in my game before I get around to writing about it.
