Hey guys, next chapter is here. I got some really positive response on the last few chapters, but one of the issues a few of you had were that I made some scientific mistakes. I'll probably correct these along with the next chapter. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read this story.

Without further ado, let's be off:

Chapter 1: An explorers dream

(09:00 Hours, LEAP, Apollo Prime)

The entirety of Prime Square was filled to the brim with human and synthetic citizens, soldiers, scientists and almost every other kind of person you could think of. Among them was Captain Jonathan Walker, a descendant of Major Jason Walker, one of the original explorers of the Mars Chronosphere base. The crowd had gathered on Prime Square to celebrate the LEAP, as it marked the start of a new era for humanity. Humanity, as a species, was ready to expand into the stars, having completely conquered their own solar system.

Prime Square was surrounded by mile-high towers that were all projecting the various gathering grounds in the solar system, providing a sense of connection that could be felt throughout the system. Most of the major population centres on Earth, Mars, Venus, the Galilean Worlds and the outer moons were all hosting similar events. On Juno, people were gathered in the Inner Sphere, basically a gigantic stadium-like construct built into the very core of the city capable of providing seating to over ten million people. In the centre of this sphere, seventeen humans were standing proud, looking regal in their dashing snow-white formals. Fifteen out of these seventeen individuals presented a Terran Major Hub world, and the last two individuals were the Terran Fleet Admiral and the High Consul, the so called "Voice of Humanity" and "Head of State" of the Confederation.

During the millennia under the influence of the Chronosphere, the Confederation government had changed radically into its present form. Advances in Neural technology and the discovery of telepathy during the early evolutionary trials had led to the formation of a network known as the Directive. Each individual was able to provide his or her views on various political subjects, giving the network a balanced spectrum of views. Once the political spectrum was formed, the network would approach individuals whose personal views most closely matched the spectrum of their respective worlds with and offer them the position of Representative. The chosen representatives gathered in the High Council chambers of Terra, where they would discuss issues, laws and all other things political. The High Consul was chosen from the High Council based on merits, and was the diplomatic leader of humanity and Head of State. He/She acted as the Praeses of the High Council, although the actual laws and decisions were made by the council itself unless a deadlock occurred, which is when the High Consul was allowed to force an issue using a veto.

Of course, the system would only work given that the number of worlds represented in the High Council chambers remained small, which would soon change. For that reason, an institution known as the Lower Council was to be put into effect during the LEAP. In a construct not unlike the Inner Sphere of Juno, representatives of millions of worlds could gather and judge the decisions made by the High Council, whose members would be chosen from the Lower Council by the Directive.

The High Consul himself was seemingly ready to address the entirety of the Sol System, and when he spoke the worlds grew quiet in attention.

"Today is day unlike other days. This day, we open up the Galaxy; we venture out into the stars, curious as we are. For millennia we have prepared, and we are more than ready to face the threat that wiped out our predecessors," he started.

"However, our goal is not destruction, and it never will be. There may be other, now younger races that are ignorant of the imminent danger they face. It is our duty to protect them, for the gift we have been granted is one that shouldn't be ours alone. Ancient human constitutions stated that every human has the right of life, has the right of liberty. These rights are not exclusive to humanity. Every sentient being has the right to exist, and we will be the vanguards of their protection."

"On this day, we call into life the Duty of Humankind. We have lived by this principle for ages, and from this day forth, we will spread our message and honour the responsibility we have been gifted. Humanity will protect sentient life, be it organic or synthetic, from harm and extinction."

"But before we can protect life, we first have to find it. I want to present all of you the brave men and women of the Confederation Exploration and Discovery Division. Thousands of explorer class vessels are set to leave this very day, on a sacred quest to explore the galaxy. I wish to personally thank all these brave souls willing to leave our home for the good of all mankind. To all of you, I say, Fare well and may the stars guide you."

Upon finishing his speech the crowds gathered in the Sol system burst into a fervent applause, as all were celebrating the LEAP. The High Consul gave curt bow, after which several commanders on the various Sol worlds started their own local speeches.

On Prime Square, the mass was greeted by Rear Admiral Grissom, who would be leading the 10th Explorer Flotilla. Grissom was a well-built and stocky man; his black beard well-trimmed but fully grown.

"I would like to call to my side the various officers that will be part of the 10th Exploration Flotilla," he said as the officers were gestured join him on stage. From all over the gathered crowd, officers began to walk towards the Rear Admiral. After a minute or two, over 400 officers were standing behind the admiral, resolute in formation.

"The men and women behind me represent the bravery and curiosity our species has always shown. They will be commanding groups of our bravest souls on this mission of exploration of ours, and help us shape our destiny in the stars. I would like all of you to salute these men and women. Everyone serving on an Explorer-class vessel is expected at the Prime Spaceport within four hours. To the rest of you I say: Enjoy this momentous day!"

The crowd gave the salute Grissom had asked for, and started moving towards the various restaurants, bars, artists and shows that were preparing their part of the LEAP celebrations. Grissom and his men entered the building directly behind them, the Apollo Military Academy.

The Academy was one of the largest and highest complexes on the planet; its towers reaching heights well over 5 kilometres and spread out over an area as big as the heart of London City. It was home to the various branches of the Terran military, including intelligence, Space Operations and Communications, Planetary Forces and multiple others. There were dozens of dorm complexes for the various recruits and serving soldiers, spread out all over the complex. Grissom's group was heading towards the Briefing Grounds, were the mission details for the 10th flotilla would be presented to the various Captains and Commodores.

The Briefing Grounds were a few large circular buildings each home to a large auditorium. The auditorium contained a holographic presenting unit at its centre, surrounded by several rows and balconies of seats for all attending personnel. Grissom walked over to the Holographic interface whilst ordering the officers to take a seat, after which he opened up the mission files. A holographic representation of the solar system came into view, with each of the human major hubs highlighted.

"Good afternoon, Ladies and gentlemen. You all know me as Rear Admiral Jon Grissom, commanding officer of the 10th exploration flotilla. I want to take a few minutes of your time to brief all of you of our mission parameters, even though most of you have been preparing for years. As today marks the actual start of humanity setting her first steps outside of the solar system, we need our people at their very best, and it is my job to make sure that you are," Grissom started after the officers had all taken their seats.

"At 16:00 precisely the first set of human explorers will leave for the Centauri star system, where they will survey any bodies orbiting the stars, leave beacons for the first Colony ship and continue on their way to the next system. The results of their journey will be relayed back to Sol using subspace communicators, so all of you can expect to be able to view their progress in real time."

"Exactly one hour after the exploration of the Centauri system, most of the other Exploration Flotilla's will leave for certain star clusters in our vicinity. The 10th Flotilla will explore this particular sector of the local cluster," he said as the interface zoomed in on a group of about 500 star systems, "Most of these systems are situated approximately 75 light-years from Sol, so it will take our ships about fifteen minutes to actually get there using the Mark XV Archdrive installed on Explorer-class vessels. I have forwarded information on a particular star system to each of your neural interfaces."

"Each and every one of you knows the prime directive of this mission: To explore systems and establish viable sites for colonization. Terran Fleet Command has ordered us not to extend our reach too much, so we are limiting colony sites to a 100 light-year range from Sol."

"You will use your time in the star system designated to you and your crew to completely map the system, after which we will all rendezvous in the Omega Sagitarii system for the next stage of the exploration mission, which will be briefed in system. For now, I say prepare yourself and your crews, and may the stars guide you," Grissom finished.

Jonathan had received data on a smaller red dwarf star within their designated cluster, and was looking forward to exploring the system with his crew. He was glad to have participated so actively in the Exploration Program over the last few years, and he was full of pride for having been awarded the command of his very own ship.

After having studied their designated system information, most of the officers left for the Apollo Starport, which was one of the most impressive planetary structures ever created by mankind. Normally the navy used small planetary transports to reach the humongous orbital docks present above most of the planets, but on Apollo most of the Starships were actually docked at the surface-based Starport itself. The entirety of the Starport covered an area that would've been considered as a small country back in the years before the Chronosphere.

The Spaceport was dominated by the Starport Command Tower, which was actually the tallest structure on the planet, measuring at just over 30 kilometres in height. The tower was built like the old airport control towers, with a large viewing deck at the top of the tower. The main difference was the scale of this deck, as it was almost 6 kilometres in diameter, providing a clear view of the surrounding area, which was purposely kept clear of clouds. At the base of the tower was the actual port, a large circular structure with arms that went on for thousands of meters.

Jonathan's ship was currently docked at ARM-12, station 359, which was a 10 kilometre ride away from the Starport main Terminal. Whilst humanity had already developed a form of teleportation technology, it was not capable of transporting something as large as human just yet. Instead, constructs such as the Spaceport and a Behemoth Class Super-Dreadnought used Archtrains, Rapid Transportation Systems built for travel on a special network that created miniature Archdrive jumps for the tram to travel through. The system provided an ideal way of short distance/high velocity travel, and was invaluable in many of humanity's larger constructs, stations and ships.

In total, 400 Explorer class vessels were docked at ARM-12 of the Starport, which was the entirety of the 10th exploration flotilla. There were two more ARM's of the port that were lined with the same vessels, as both the 9th and the 11th flotilla would embark on their journey from Apollo as well. There were 32 flotillas in total, made up of 400 Explorer class vessels, most of which were leaving from Juno. The entire exploration mission today would provide enough data for the office of Colonization to designate the appropriate planets for colonization.

As Jonathan left the Archtrain, he was awed by the sight before him, or rather, below him. From the ARM viewing deck he could see dozens of the Explorer-Class vessels, all of them readying for departure. His own ship, the TCSS Into the Abyss, was surely a sight to behold, though in all honesty, every explorer class was. The ship had a distinct tapered central section made up of nearly 100 decks at the highest point near the aft side of the ship. The bridge was situated there as well, overlooking the entire ship. Next to the central section were two stretched S-curved sections that joined the central section at the bow and near mid-ship. At the end of the S-sections the sublight engines were giving off a faint blue glow from the warm-up procedure.

While Jonathan was still gazing at his ship, one of the junior officers who was also serving on the Abyss came up to him.

"Sir," she saluted, "Commander Catherine Everheart. I'm your XO"

"At ease, commander," Jonathan replied.

"If you would please follow me, sir," Catherine asked as she beckoned Jonathan to follow her.

The two of them went down two levels and entered one of the ship transports, small trams that were generally used to load personnel onto ships larger than a few hundred meters.

"So Commander, how long have you been part of the Confederation Navy?" Jonathan asked, genuinely interested.

"I joined up 10 years ago, sir," she answered, "Spent five years in the Academy here, and the next five under Grissom. Mostly simulations, given that we didn't really have anything real to defend before today, sir,"

Over the last fifty years, the confederation navy had been prepping their personnel for LEAP. Because the Sol system had been a bastion of peace for thousands of years, the military had created advanced simulations were crews of different ships participated in virtual naval engagements. Most of the officers serving in the Terra Defence Fleet had decades of experience fighting the virtual battles.

"Well, that's about to change now, commander," Jonathan replied, "Our jobs are only going to get more interesting from now on."

Before long the ship transport reached one of the hangar bays of the Abyss, which was dotted with a multitude of different vehicles that would prove useful in the exploration missions to come. There were a few crew transports, mining units, recon rovers and loads more.

"Alright sir, would you like to head to the bridge now, or should we make a detour through several of the vital decks?" Catherine asked.

"I would like to meet my crew, commander, and I would rather do it now."

"Very well, sir," Catherine said as she led the Captain to the ship transport network, a set of "elevators" capable of moving in nearly every direction. You could view one as a ball travelling through a pipe network. A very advanced pipe network.

Their first stop was the Engineering sector, made up of multiple decks centred on the ship's gigantic Archdrive. The Mark XV was capable of speeds of up to 300 light-years an hour under normal operating conditions. Whilst it was not the fastest drive available to humanity, the mark XV was the most power-efficient drive ever produced, and it allowed the Explorer-Class vessels to minimize their heat and energy signature. Combined with the active stealth systems and energy sinks, the Explorer-class was virtually undetectable to all but the most advanced sensor systems.

A few marines saluted the captain as he and his XO walked up to the lead engineer, Marcus Connely, who was in charge of all the engineering divisions.

"Good afternoon sir," he said as Jonathan and Catherine reached his station, "Marcus Connely, Lead Engineer."

"Afternoon Connely," Jonathan replied, "One hell of an engine we've got here. I expect you can put her through her paces with ease?"

"Naturally, sir! The mark XV is one of the most advanced Archdrives we have, and with my team of engineers on duty we can get more than 110% out of her."

"Good to know, Connely. If there's anything you need, let me know. Were set for departure in 60 minutes, we'll talk again later."

"Of course, sir," Connely replied as Jonathan and Catherine continued on their "tour" of the ship. Their next stop was the intelligence deck, outfitted with state of the art sensory systems. The task of the intelligence department was to analyse any data gathered by the sensor drones that had been dropped into orbit around new planets, and to gather data on new species, civilizations or other "anomalies" they might encounter.

They visited a few more decks, including the armoury, the dormitories, the medical deck and the flight operations deck before arriving in the bridge, which was situated directly above the FO-deck. Jonathan had had a quick talk with a few of the men and women in charge of their respective divisions on their way to the bridge, so when they finally did arrive on the bridge they had 15 minutes left before departure.

"Welcome sir," a faint white, synthetic avatar said as Jonathan reached his station. "I'm SSI-34A-XC, more commonly known as Selene. I'll be handling all cyber-suites and will provide you with every bit of up-to-date information on ship performance and status. Looking forward to working with you."

"Likewise, Selene. Let's start the routine pre-departure systems check," Jonathan replied.

The systems check took about 5 milliseconds, courtesy of A.I. technology, after which Jonathan started gazing at the other explorer-class vessels next to the Into the Abyss. It was an amazing view, hundreds of explorers ready to embark on their great journey, all their ships brimming with activity. Most of the starport operations vehicles and services had detached from the ships, apart from the docking clamps and starport anti-gravity fields. As the departure clock started nearing zero, Jonathan started the departure procedure.

"Activate Anti-gravity Engines," Jonathan ordered.

One of his bridge officers replied. "Engines… are go. Anti-gravity field is stable. Ready for undocking, sir"

"Release the clamps."

"Clamps retracted, all systems are holding. We are ready for departure, sir."

"Good," Jonathan said as he opened the neural ship communication network, "This is your Captain speaking. At this very moment, we depart on a journey that will be remembered in the annals of our species. We've spent millennia advancing our technological grasp of the universe, and now we finally get to explore it all. I expect us to find sights, wonders and other experiences that will take our breath away. Planets filled with new life, civilizations young and old and mysteries we cannot yet grasp. All of this is within our reach now, and today, we will set the first steps."

"Nice speech, captain," Selene said smiling. It was one of the nicer aspects of human artificial intelligence, that they were capable of portraying emotions that would normally be the sole property of organics.

After receiving the go-ahead from the starport, the Into the Abyss started ascending away from the starport until they were at the required clearance level to start the sublight engines. After engine activation they joined the 10th flotilla in orbit around Apollo, where they were waiting for their Admiral to give them the go-ahead for travelling to their designated star-systems. However, that was still an hour away, as they would first view the live footage from the Centauri expedition.

The holo-screen on the bridge switched to their live footage:

The bridge of the "TCSS One small Step" was almost completely identical to the "TCSS Into the Abyss" apart from the obviously different A.I.

"Preparing Archspace Jump," one of the bridge officers said, "Coordinates are green, we are ready, sir,"

"Take us there," the admiral in command of the expedition said.

"Yes sir," the same officer said, after which the entire ship jumped through a rip in space-time and entered the subspace dimension. The view was absolutely amazing, as a multitude of bluish colours streamed over the ship's shields.

After a short minute in subspace, the ship re-entered our own dimension, having arrived at the Centauri Tertiary system.

"My god, it's beautiful," one of the bridge officers said. It was indeed a sight to behold, two stars within 20 AU of each other, orbiting each other in a never-ending celestial dance. The last star of the system was much smaller and a hell of a lot further away, appearing to simply be a very bright star in the night sky.

"Activate the long-range scanners," the captain said, as their first priority was to explore planets orbiting the star.

After a few moments the results came in.

"Sir, we've got a lot to do. Systems are detecting 8 planets in orbit around the larger star, one with potential for life, although it seems to be just outside of the goldilocks zone. The second star appears to have 4 planets orbiting it, and the there's 6 more planets orbiting the binary system, although most of these are barren dwarf planets."

"Take us to the fourth planet," the captain said, "And perform a terraforming-scope check once we're there."

The ship's sublight engines produced a quiet hum as the "One small Step" travelled to the fourth planet in orbit around Alpha Centauri A. When the ship had reached the right velocity and vector, they prepared for a pinpoint Archspace jump.

"Prepare for jump in 3… 2… 1…" A bridge officer said as the Explorer re-entered subspace for a microsecond.

Their target planet was in full view now, and it was beautiful. There was definitely an atmosphere, giving the edge of the planet a faint blue glow. Most of the surface was white, but there were visible landmarks, probably mountainous regions.

"Atmospheric condition is… surprisingly earth-like, sir. Most of the surface is covered with H2O ice, and we're detecting several warmer regions that point to subsurface oceans. Microbial life is possible, but not much more than that."

"Shows promise," the captain said, "Leave a buoy for the Colonization ships, and send down a few probes, we've got more planets to check out."

The rest of the hour went by like time itself didn't exist, as everyone was enthralled with the explorers aboard the One small Step. Half an hour after the discovery of the ice-planet, which had been dubbed Everest, the first colony-ship appeared in system. The ship dropped a small package onto the planetary surface that sent a shimmer over the planetary surface as a time field was introduced to the planet. Nanites inside the package began constructing and operating terraforming equipment as if the speed was set on fast forward. Within fifteen minutes the shimmer was retracted, and the planet's face had been changed, albeit not too drastically. Most of the higher regions were still covered with ice or snow, but the lower regions of the planet now boasted liquid oceans. The colony-ship, bringing about 200.000 settlers (Less than 15% of its total capacity) along, descended down to the planet's surface. Humanity had founded its first extrasolar colony, and more would follow quickly.

When the clock hit 17:00, flotilla after flotilla started leaving the Sol system. When Rear Admiral Grissom gave the go-ahead, all 400 ships that were under his command jumped towards their destination.

Jonathan was amazed by the journey through subspace, even though he had seen the streams of blue light before. This time he got to enjoy the view for over 15 minutes, which was far longer than he had ever spent in subspace.

"Quite the show, isn't it sir?" Catherine said as she gazed outside.

"It's beautiful, commander. Amazes me each and every time again," Jonathan replied.

"What do you think we'll find out there?" she asked.

"A lot of rocks, commander. But perhaps we'll get lucky and find an actual garden world," Jonathan said.

Soon after the ship A.I., Selene spoke up.

"We're approaching the system, Captain. Dropping out of subspace in 30 seconds."

"Allright, let's see how lucky we are."

When the ship dropped out of subspace seconds later the ship found itself in orbit around a red dwarf star.

"Scanning for planets, sir," one of the bridge officers said as she started the long-range scanning sequence.

"Captain, we've hit the proverbial jackpot," Selene said soon after, "System appears to contain 4 planets, two of which are in the Goldilocks zone. The outer one seems to be a dusty world like Mars, but the inner one has all the requirements for an earth-like planet."

Jonathan's eyes lit up at the mentioning of a possible Garden world. "Take us to the inner planet," he ordered. They matched velocity and direction with the target planet and prepared a pinpoint jump.

When the Into the Abyss came out of subspace once more, everyone on the ship gasped at the beauty before them. The planet they were orbiting looked like a new earth; it had similar cloud patterns, blue oceans, and scores of green land. The Polar Regions looked cold, but they were smaller than Earth's. As for the equatorial regions, it seemed that there were no deserts at all. It looked like they had actually stumbled on a planet that was more suitable for life than their own Earth, and the crew was simply amazed.

Soon after a swarm of probes left from one of the many hangars that dotted the side of the Explorer class vessel, all of them establishing a different orbit around the planet, some of them headed for Geo-synchronous altitudes whilst others moved into polar orbits.

"Selene, what's the atmosphere like?" Jonathan asked, almost convinced that it would be something unsuitable.

"Nitrogen Oxygen based, Captain," Selene answered, "With about one percent more oxygen than the Earth's atmosphere. The planet also boasts an impressive magnetic field and oceanic circulation system. No signs of sapient civilization. This is a class-3 garden world, sir."

"Send down drones and landers," Jonathan said, amazed by the amount of luck he'd had.

Before long the administrator of the Sol Colonial Division contacted Jonathan for data confirmation.

"Captain, my name is Joseph Archer, administrator for the SCD. I have five colony-live ships ready to jump to your system if your data is correct. If I can believe your view, I'd assume you really did hit a jackpot here."

"Administrator, we have a 100% confirmation on a class-3. Local fauna development level is still in the animal stage, so there are no true arguments against en masse colonization."

"Excellent, I'll relay the confirmation to the colony-ships. Any ideas for a name, captain?"

Jonathan looked at the administrator in surprise. "Uhm, just one, administrator. Arcadia."

"Perfect, especially considering how "heaven-like" the planet seems to be. Next one like this will probably be called Elysium or something along that line," the administrator said with a large grin on his face, "Expect the ships in system within 20 minutes, captain."

When the connection was cut Jonathan turned to his crew on the bridge with one of the biggest smiles he had ever had stuck to his face.

"Let's go and check out the other planets. Set a course for the Mars-like one."

And that's it for this week. Expect the next chapter to be up somewhere in the next two weeks, as my schedule is getting a little full at the moment. We're moving to the first contact, and I have some nice ideas for that. However, I would like to know which species would make for the most interesting first contact scenario in your opinion. Personally I'm leaning towards either Quarians or Salarians.

I'm also currently sketching out a few of the human ships and worlds, so expect some kind of codex page when most of those are done. I like giving you guys some visuals to accompany the story.

Let me know what you think!

Cheers