Origin: Prologue Ch. 01

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.