The Pegasus Initiative
To promote rebuilding efforts after the Covenant War, the United Earth Government authorized the exploration, and colonization of the dwarf galaxy Pegasus, one of Andromeda's companion galaxy in the Milky Way local group. Participants of the initiative were solely volunteers, as such an endeavour would result in a one-way trip, with no prospect of returning home. Nevertheless, 50 thousand men and women from various backgrounds and origins have made the choice to volunteer themselves as humanity's first generation of inter-galactic explorers.
Technology gained from reverse engineering Covenant and Forerunner slip-space drives has enabled new generations of Shaw-Fujikawa drives increased ranges, decreasing travel time within the multi-dimensional reality known commonly as slip space. Thus, despite being almost 3 million years away from the Milky-Way galaxy, it has been theorized that it would take merely a few decades, not centuries, for one-way travel between the Milky-Way and Pegasus.
It is hoped that the prospect of venturing out to the unknown and starting anew would bring about much needed morale among the populace, reigniting the desire to spread humanity among the stars and experiencing new worlds, to boldly go where no man has gone before. Despite public reception upon announcing the Pegasus Initiative (will be referred as "the expedition" from here on out) being lower than expected, the UEG managed to fill up the desired amount of 50 thousand colonists to jump start a new colony. Among the colonists contain highly skilled teams of diplomats, geologists, astronomers, scientists and engineers, all willing to aid the colonists in their efforts.
Additionally, it was deemed imperative that a sizable military presence should be allotted to the colonists in order to safeguard them from any hostile threats that may befall the expedition. Thus, the UNSC has agreed to supply the expedition with its military protection. Military assets provided by the UNSC includes 1 Autumn class heavy cruiser, 6 Strident class heavy frigates, 2 Halberd class destroyers, 1 Phoenix class carrier, and 1 mobile refit/repair station as well as 7000 marines and sailors, all of whom volunteered to take part in the expedition. In addition, the Office of Naval Intelligence has provided the expedition with 2 Prowlers for use for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering should the need arise.
2 Phoenix class colony ships and 5 cargo freighters were also provided to the expedition as non-military vessels. Both Phoenix class colony ships will transport the colonists to the Pegasus galaxy as well as serve as building materials to help jump start new colonies. The cargo freighters will serve as transport ships for preliminary industrial equipment, crop seeds, and livestock, as well as to haul cargo if necessary upon arrival.
In total, the Pegasus Initiative contains 13 warships, 7 civilian ships, 50 thousand colonists and 7 thousand military personnel. Yet, it is important to note that despite the large amount of firepower at the disposal of the expedition, its main purpose is to explore and colonize the Pegasus Galaxy and to establish friendly contacts with any local political entity if possible. Thus, the leaders of the expedition had to be ones that have a friendly and diplomatic nature but also not afraid to utilize military force if it is the last option available. Hence, Governor Julian Olken and Rear Admiral Jingles Mcjingleberry were chosen as overall and military leaders for the expedition respectively due to their calm and calculating natures.
The Initiative was first proposed in the year 2554, just a year after the conclusion of the Covenant war. It was repeatedly rejected by the UEG due to post-war rebuilding being considered a higher-priority than an expedition to a faraway galaxy. The UEG finally gave the Initiative the go-ahead in the year 2556, yet it took over a year to gather up all the resources necessary for the high-risk venture. It was only in June 24 2557 when the entirety of the expedition left Earth for the Pegasus Galaxy. Computer simulations show that if all goes well, the expedition should arrive in the outer reaches of the far-flung dwarf galaxy sometime in the year 2580.
Admiral Mcjingleberry chuckled to himself after he had finished reading the published report on the Initiative. Despite being published almost 3 decades ago, it felt like it was just last year that he had read it when it first came out.
Ah well, guess that's what cryo does to your body, he thought to himself as he stretched his body.
The computer simulations were wrong. The automated AI subroutines were programmed to thaw out essential personnel after 23 years of cryo sleep, which should've been enough time to reach the outer edges of the Pegasus galaxy. When the some-what young Rear Admiral realized after he was thawed out and got his personal bearings right, he found out that the expedition was still 5 years away in slip-space from even reaching the Pegasus galaxy.
To make matters worse, after those 5 additional cryo years, it took the expedition another 7 months just to find a suitable planet to terraform. Even with the UNSC's extensive and advance terraforming technology, it was only advanced enough to terraform those worlds that needed only a few adjustments to make them suitable for human habitation.
Yet, despite that, they have managed to found a new colony, the first ever human colony outside of the Milky Way galaxy. It took 3 years of terraforming the planet before colonization could began but that was expected. Now, 6 years after the expedition arrived, the colony, now called Nova Status which is Latin for "fresh start", is slowly growing. Agricultural areas have already sprung up for miles around the main city, crops steadily producing yields that are more than enough to feed all of the colonists. The city itself has a small industrial center, mainly producing agricultural equipment but also small amounts of military ammunition as well as everyday household items.
In orbit, Jingles and Governor Olken both agreed that it would be best to modify the mobile repair and refit station to have the ability to build small ships, turning it into a mobile shipyard. Within the same star system, now named "Gatopea", the local asteroid belt has been found to house several useful minerals, mainly Titanium-A and Selenium. Although no off-world mining has commenced yet, Governor Olken made it one of his top priorities to make it possible within 2 years.
"Admiral sir?" a voice behind him snapped the Rear Admiral from his thoughts.
"Yes Lieutenant?"
"The prowlers returned from their long-range reconnaissance that you ordered 2 months ago" he almost completely forgot about giving out those orders. Ever since they arrived and set up shop, Governor Olken had urged that it is vital to know what is around them. It was only fairly recently that the Rear Admiral finally gave in to his demands.
"Thank you, Lieutenant." Jingles replied before standing up from his command chair "I'll go down and debrief the captains myself"
The younger officer simply saluted as the Rear Admiral made his way down to the hanger bay.
A/N: Hey guys, this is my very first solo fan fiction. So any constructive criticism would be very appreciated. If anyone is waiting on "my" other fanfic: Halo Oddball Tales, then I do apologize. Real life stuff got in the way so I couldn't really translate the role play into fanfic format (read the a/n on oddball tales to understand what the heck do I mean) Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this and I'll see you guys hopefully soon. Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
