July, 2053
The Big Step
"... In fact, it was only a little before a century ago when man first stepped foot on the moon. Now, we are about to step forth into the stars..."
United States' President Jacobi's face was on every television screen in the United States, and in every other nation, the same was true for their respective leaders. Colonies had the option to listen into whoever they wanted, but only language was the major difference (despite the fact that approximately 50% of the world now spoke English or some variance of it.) It honestly didn't matter who was speaking.
Every man, woman, sentient machine, you name it, in every settlement in the solar system, from the lowliest worker to the biggest big wig, knew that the the most momentous event in human history was about to commence. With excited eyes they looked towards the stars: into the past and into the future at the same time. These same stars that had started as legends to humankind, to eventually predictors of the future, and to finally: the means to a future, were about to no longer become distant dots in the sky. Someday, many may consider them home.
"Three of our finest vessels of peacekeeping, now retrofitted to be vessels of exploration, the Hyperion and the Thunderchild, are ready to engage their hyperspace engines tomorrow, as well as the famed research vessel, Apollo. Their course is still to be determined by Grand Admiral McCart, the man personally responsible for winning five separate engagements against the KLF, but the entire UNSA has complete faith he will lead this three year mission to success wherever he takes them..."
Yet still... not all were well at heart. The presence of alien life had been proven by the derelict spacecraft, and while many were willing to meet them with open arms, many suggested shaking with one hand, and holding a gun in the other. Man had engineered other sentient species, but they were the gods in this endeavor. Who knows what the mindset of something evolved on an entirely different planet could be? Would they view humankind as rivals? Parasites? Inferiors? Animals? None knew, but at the back of all minds... there was fear.
"These vessels aren't without defenses, but I've been assured by the greatest philosophers and scientific minds in the Solar System that there is nothing to fear out there. We must keep open minds, for as President Kennedy once said, the very man who kicked off the true age of space exploration: 'The only thing to fear is fear itself!'"
...
...
As the speech was underway, a single message was sent to Lunar orbit from Earth.
"Fleet Command to Admiral McCart... this is Secretary Maybourne. Please report the status of the vessels under your command as well as your intended destination. Honestly, hate to sound as god damned overdramatic as every politician seems to be at the moment, but the stars are at your fingertips. I myself am pretty curious as to where you'll go. Give an old man with a telescope on his deck something to look forward to, will ya?
Though still... once you do, and though I hate to stack shit on your mind, I have something to tell you. Something no one else intends to... and no it isn't a damned admittance of love, though I came close to it after the Chiron incident. Seriously though, keep your ear open for me. Maybourne Out."