Maiden Voyage of Man

[Offizier Necro]

Claryse Garalson, Model Citizen of the Crucible of Freemen, sat quietly at his desk next to some papers and a small glass of ethanol. The leader read over the prepared speech a few more times before standing up, finishing his drink, and leaving for the communications room to make a final checkup with the space fleet. All across the communications room were a dozen rows of bulky terminals and devices with blinking lights incomprehensible to anyone but the most educated of specialists. Despite the chaotic technological mess, it retained a fairly sterile feeling from the bleach-white coloring of both the floor tiles and the terminal casings. At the far wall of the room stood yet another layer of terminals, with a massive projection-based television screen covering the majority of it.

Following a calm request from Claryse for the fleet to be rung up, the technicians used the quantum entanglement between the bulky, car-sized FTL communications devices on Haven and the space ship to establish contact. The massive television hummed, buzzed, and lit up to life in black-and-white with another technician on the other end standing ready on the screen. The technician aboard the station exchanged a salute towards the Model Citizen.

"Hello, Model Citizen. We are reading you loud and clear. Is there anything you need, sir?"

"Yes, please alert the Herald that I would like to speak with him. Thank you."

"Affirmative, sir."

The naval technician spoke to his superior off-screen, who then left to have the Herald fetched. Both the technician and the Model Citizen waited quietly, with an awkward silence slowly becoming more and more tangible. Suddenly, the technician looked off to his side and nodded before addressing Claryse.

"Sir, the Herald is here and is willing to speak with y-"

"Fuck, when you had to shave your body hair off to get aboard did you hack off a bit too much down there too? Quit being such a rod-shiner, gods. Yo, Clary-teary shoot-'em-scary, what do you need?"

The informal man stood in an equally informal jacket and trousers, acting completely nonchalant at throwing pet names at the leader of all known sapient life and cussing out someone else in front of said leader. The Model Citizen closed his eyes, inhaled, exhaled, then began speaking professionally despite the Herald's shenanigans.

"I am making a final checkup on the fleet. Is everything still going according to plan?"

"Yup. Everything's grand here. Just as fine as it was earlier. If something was going wrong, one of the yellow-pantsed monkeys here would ring you up. You know this. Calm down, stop worrying. Put your wife in charge if you're going to be such a wuss about this, damn."

"Look, just don't push any buttons you don't know and don't pick too many fights, okay?"

"Fiiine. Anything else, mom?"

"...No. Just be ready to initiate warp when we give the word."

"Yeah yeah, I heard the last time. Alright, Addy out. ...I said Addy out. THAT MEANS TURN OFF THE TELESCR-"

The television zapped to static as the transmission was cancelled, and was soon shut off by a technician with the distinctive noise of tube televisions. The nearby workers looked at Claryse as he looked at the blank screen, but soon returned to work as he rubbed his eyes with a frustrated groan. There was nothing to do but give the speech and give the order. He was a Model Citizen now, not a military leader anymore. The war is over. Just give the speech and give the order.

Claryse returned to his office and collapsed into his chair as the speech approached, then read over the documents one last time. An underling quietly entered the room and informed him that it was time to give the speech, so he stood up and took one last sip of the alcohol for the road. The underling stared for a moment at his boss attempting to drink from an empty glass, leading to some hidden embarrassment on the Model Citizen's part. Despite this, he proceeded to the stage as planned and on schedule, nothing out of place. The atmosphere outside the capitol was a mixture of nervousness and anticipation. A few thousand people were attending the event in person and possibly billions were tuning in from afar. No pressure. Just give the speech and give the order. Ignore the loud noises, shouting, and flashes. There is no gunfire. No one is screaming. Just give the speech and give the order.

As Claryse stepped up to the podium, the crowd fell silent but sat down onto the edges of their seats.

"As you all know, we have build several space ships and a space station. Today is a day that will go down in history. Not simply an accomplishment of one man, a team, or even a nation, but as an accomplishment of all humanity. Our people today will officially no longer be bound to one planet or even one star. The heavens themselves are within our grasp and we are ready to take the first step. We might not know who, if anyone, will greet us in the heavens, or if it will be with intent kind or ill, but we will be ready. Even if we meet no neighbors today, or ever, this shall still be a historical day like no other. It will stand as a monument to mankind's ability to not only thrive on one world, but across endless worlds. It shows that we have infinite potential. It shows that we have mastered past, present, and future into reality; rewards for all humanity. It is my hope that this not only brings us all closer together, but that it inspires each and every one of you. We could not have done this without the efforts of linguists, sociologists, engineers, physicists, pilots, and countless others. One day I hope you will all be as skilled as the men, and women, who have brought us these wonders. Thank you. Thank you all."

Claryse went silent for a moment and closed his eyes before raising his hand and waving it as a sign for the underlings to the side to signal the fleets into action. The Model Citizen stood at the podium with his eyes still closed. The crowd looked confused and waited silently for the man to continue. After a few minutes of this stand-off, an underling ran onto the stage and whispered into the Model Citizen's ear.

The leader opened his eyes before leaning into the microphone to speak: "We are now officially an interstellar nation."

The crowd suddenly burst into a deafening cheer, with hats, papers, and various assorted items being thrown into the air in a massive storm of pride and joy. People on the sidelines took cover from clipboards and pens, but the Model Citizen stared forwards in a proud smile. Construction ships were now flying towards asteroids in their system, while other vessels were now in an entirely different system an endless number of miles away.

It took thousands of years and countless lost and reforged memories, but humanity has finally returned to the heavens.



[Note: This post was originally in Internal Affairs but was moved by request.]