1 Preparations

Kade opened the comms message sent to him from his personal terminal. The AI that ran the old battleship listed out that while not a fugitive, he'd be arrested if he did not attend the hearing. The old bridge, now the council chambers, was normally where disciplinary hearings were held, but Kade was surprised to hear that this was being held in the old fighter hanger. His nerves on end as he remembered the recording of the last time the AI directed anyone to the hanger, everyone talking like nothing was going on, conversing about the work day, and without any knowledge of the horrors their next seconds would hold. He shivered as he remembered the cold artificial voice, come through the speakers.

"My masters and my wards, you, the descendants of my creators, I must apologize in advance for the events that will shortly unfold" his memory of their faces as they were forced into a lottery for who would live and who would die. Though, through his investigations as a ship engineer, he found it was no lottery, but a show put on to ensure the least possibility of mass panic among the chosen. The "winners" of the lottery, were sent to their quarters, given a sedative and told that they were free from work for a week if they chose to so take it.

The "losers" weren't so lucky the grav plating was turned up to 90% power to hold their bodies down while worker drones swarmed and grabbed each unlucky citizen, the reality was explained to them, all of it, the lottery was a farce, they were the least productive and the dwindling resources to maintain the old fleet was causing the AIs to suggest drastic measures which leadership accepted without question. The citizens were given a choice they could take a sedative, be jettisoned out of the airlocks and die in peace, or they could be sent planet side, something that no one wanted to try, no expeditionary groups ever returned, even the well armed ones. Something had changed in the time between when humanity had separated from the Terran sphere of influence and when we returned.

Kade slowly trudged to the hanger, as he arrived he could feel fear radiating from everyone in attendance, the AI spoke up, "thank you all for joining us, you all may be fearing that events will unfold as had been previously shared with you all, I assure you there's no such intent, though the issue remains the same" a chilled hush ran through the crowd, everyone here was well known to be the best at their duties, or second best, questions inevitably began to bubble up from the entire crowd. After a short sound was made by the AI, it continued. "We've discovered what happened when we sent automated drones built from some of the stockpile of combat probes, it took some time to do so but we've found that previous expeditions failed due to intense radiation on the outer surfaces of the mega structures built by your ancestors."

The general din in the room rose at that point to an intensity that required the AI to make a noise with the announcement system to get everyone to quiet down. "You, gathered here now, are our best and brightest, and in conjunction with the shipboard AI counsel and the human counsel we've determined that our resources would be better spent gaining access to your home world, as the other planets have only scraps remaining, the world down there should be rife with resources though and if there are any survivors of your race, whatever they have become we can either help or be helped by them."

The din rose again to a cacophony, Kade was lost deep in his thoughts as he wondered what would happen if he refused. While lost in his thoughts, medical staff arrived with equipment that none of them had seen functional before. "Everyone, these are scientists and medical specialists that are from our research institutes." After a brief explanation of the plans that were being implemented, everyone was given a mobile terminal to read their individual briefing documents. [PN] read through his, he was to join the expeditionary crew, his roles were several, and he would be one of the last to leave as he was to ensure that the crafts they took would work. So his preparations began.