Earth was not as it once was. The last world war had seen to the destruction of most of the natural resources, and the poisoning of the rest. Hope had long become something of a legend for most, but for a select few the vision of something better remained. Those with hope rose to immediate power from the ashes of defeat, and became the leaders of a new generation; a generation committed to peace. The lives lost in the previous decade long war had taught the remainder a lesson, and it was one they would never forget. War was not the answer, and peace was the only hope.
Peace kept the nations alive. For the next century, the famine was made bearable because the leaders kept the hope for a better life alive, and with them the vision of a better life remained. But no amount of hope could change the supply of food and water from dwindling. A solution had to be presented to alter the spiral downward toward death.
That change came, but from a source none suspected, not even the leaders of Earth. A small, weak signal was detected from somewhere in space: a broadcast so advanced it was total coincidence any of the damaged equipment on Earth could detect the signal. The source had yet to reveal itself, but it spoke of survival. That word was so entrancing, enthralling. It captured the hearts of every listener and focused them.
The voice on the other end of the message spoke of technology that could transform Earth and its inhabitants. Food and water synthesizers, medicine, warm beds, defense technology, space travel - the list went on. It could actually mean the end of suffering for the survivors on Earth.
There had to be a catch. There had to be a downside to such an offer. The years of pain had changed the minds of the humans, and had made them very wary of such things. Despite their current predicament, they remained intelligent, and knew that there had to be a clause to the generosity of the people from space.
And there was. It shocked the listeners, for the voices had the same goal as the listeners: survival. The voices from space revealed they were the Nishlan, explorers from another solar system, who had been aboard a ship for generations. However, recently the ship had taken damage, and needed to be repaired on a habitable planet. Earth matched such requirements, yet the Nishlan no longer wished to repair the ship, but remain on Earth for the rest of their lives. As a reparation for their inhabitance on the planet, they would offer their technology in return.
Survival was too great an offer for the humans to refused. They gratefully accepted the offer from the Nishlan, and awaited their arrival.
The ship was massive. The Earthers never expected the size of the ship. Over four hundred Nishlan spilled from the craft's exits, smiling and shaking the hands of every Earth inhabitant they could meet. They were allowed to live anywhere on the remaining continent they so wished. Times were hard for the next few years, but the construction of the promised food and water synthesizers sustained them.
With the aid of the Nishlan, Earth would be able to survive and maintain everyone on Earth. Armed with this news, the Nishlan and Earthers began assembling defense turrets and shields to guard against any other foes. While the Earthers didn't really see it as necessary, and were greatly opposed to war, the Nishlan said it was a priority. Frustratingly, the Nishlan but wouldn't explain why. Because of the charity shown by the Nishlan, the Earthers didn't push the matter, and continued to build.
A select few continued to feel the life of the planet was at stake, and began a space program to colonize other solar systems. They compared the erecting of defense turrets to the selling of ones soul, and no longer felt comfortable being the presence of those who didn't agree. The plan was to launch the ship with the crew in stasis, until the moment that the sensors picked up another suitable planet. The final ship model was to hold around one hundred, but the prototype could only hold thirty. The ship the Nishlan used served as a blueprint for the prototype vessel (although sized down greatly), and most of the technology used to build the ship was from that original colony vessel. One of the powerful Nishlan engines that took the Nishlan so far was grafted to the prototype for experimentation.
Despite the apparent faithlessness of the space program designers, the Earth leaders supported the matter. They understood Earth could become unstable at any moment, and the prospect of continued survival sounded better than a fiery death on a doomed planet. They approved the construction of Earth's Hope 01, and a test flight was scheduled a year after the final bolt was tightened on the craft. James Crane, the son of one of the great Earth leaders, was selected to be the commander of EH 01.
And so it went. For the next year and six months, James Crane and his crew of thirty underwent intensive training, and performed well under all the conditions. The crew became a unit of hardened individuals, totally prepared for any circumstance that may occur. Space could be a dangerous place, and the crew of Earth's Hope weren't about to set out unprepared.
It was a week before the test flight when the sensors picked up movement beyond Mars. Strengthening of the sensors uncovered a faint outline of what appeared to be an alien spacecraft headed straight toward Earth. Excited that there was another friendly alien race headed toward Earth, the technician called a Nishlan over to confirm the hypothesis.
The Nishlan's face paled at the sight of the ship. This was no ally. The secret had to be revealed. Nervously the Nishlan called his counterparts, and they gathered around the sensor readout. Now was the time to reveal their true identity.
The Nishlan scientists explained they were renegades from a race called the Sholtan, nomads bent on eradicating all life on any planet it encountered. The Nishlan planet had been on of its targets, years ago. The small crew of Nishlan had escaped destruction because of their powerful engines, which they discovered were stronger than the Sholtan's. But, ever patient, the Sholtan quietly pursued the Nishlan. They knew the Nishlan would tire of the chase.
The ship grew ever closer, heightening the anxiety. The Nishlan wept in sorrow for what they were about to witness. Another planet destroyed by the Sholtan, and there was nothing they could do to prevent it. While their engines were powerful, the defense weaponry was not. The Nishlan had hoped to have designed a more powerful weapon to destroy the Sholtan, but had yet to invent one. Even with the combined forces of Earth at their disposal, the outlook was grim, even hopeless. Running seemed the only option, and the Nishlan ship had long been cannibalized for Earth's Hope 01.
It was decided – Earth's Hope was going to honor its name, and prolong the races living on Earth. While the first few plasma blasts began to rain down on the planet from the Sholtan cannons, Earth's Hope began to raise off the ground. As a plume of flame blasted out of the engines the leaders of Earth wept. With a mix of hope and dread, they silently watched the small spacecraft fly into space, off to somewhere in the unknown.
The Sholtan had come prepared for such an event, and began to fire at EH 01. EH 01's pilot was sweating, grunting, trying to dodge the death rays. The training was being put to good use, and the skill the pilot showed in the test sessions proved worthy. It looked like he would succeed, but just as the ship began to warp away into space, a plasma blast struck the ship. What damage it did could not be determined by either the Sholtan or those still alive on Earth, for EH 01 flashed into warp soon after.
James Crane awoke to the scent of burned flesh. His first officer lay beside him, his face melted into a puddle around his charred skull. It appeared he had taken the force of an exploding conduit directly in his face. He was most certainly dead, as were many of the other bridge members, from what he could tell by the bodies splayed on the ground.
Slowly, Crane stood, and eyed the bridge. The ship appeared to have dropped out of warp, but where? The pilot was laying underneath his chair, and Crane figured by the looks of him, he didn't have the chance to turn the engines off himself. Either the computer shut them off to prevent an overload, or they never reached warp, and the Sholtan were preparing to finish them off. Crane couldn't tell how long he was unconscious, but he hoped the warp engines were activated long enough to propel EH 01 away from the Sholtan, perhaps giving him some time to gather his thoughts and repair the ship.
A groan from behind alerted Crane someone else still lived on the bridge. His science officer slowly righted herself, and shakily walked over to Crane. Repairs were going to take some time, that was certain. And Crane could use all the help he could find.
The search through the ship uncovered a total of eighteen survivors. The dead were buried in space, but the mourning would have to wait. Earth's Hope was struggling to maintain its crew, and it was slowly dying.
The warp engines were severely damaged from the attack: while they had saved the lives on EH 01, they could no longer function without emitting lethal radiation levels. The engines had to be deactivated until repairs could be made. Sub light thrusters would be the only method of maneuvering for the time being.
A detailed survey of the navigational array determined the crew were far out of their solar system, out into what appeared to be a dead area of the galaxy. The travel time back to Earth would outlive its crew: it was expected it would take nearly eighty years to travel back. However, for the moment returning for survivors on Earth was not the priority.
While there were plenty of planets to be found on the sensors, there were no planets that could support human life. While repairs could be made in space, the life support systems couldn't maintain the crew long enough to finish them. A planet had to be found, or Earth's final hope would suffer a slow death in the cold spasm of space.
Repairs continued while the crew listlessly journeyed through the dead rocks in search of a livable planet. Morale was extremely low, and fights broke out often. If the ship didn't fall apart first, the crew would ensure their untimely deaths by killing each other in frustration, Crane was certain.
Months passed. The crew felt as if they were convicted of death sentences, and were merely living out their last few days. Hopelessness had taken its toll on the crew, who no longer cared for the fate of the ship. It wasn't apparent how careless the crew was until Ensign Carpenter electrocuted himself to death in a maintenance tube on deck two. It was ruled the accident occurred to carelessness – Carpenter had forgotten to shut off the power in the relay switch before operating on it.
Crane tried to keep himself optimistic throughout the months. He hoped his facade of bravery, courage and confidence would fool the crew into thinking he had hope for the survival of EH 01.
But hope prevailed, for on one lonely morning, during a routine sensor sweep, a very faint hailing call was detected emanating from a remote planet. Emblazoned with hope, Crane heartily ordered a new course to the planet.
What greeted them brought tears to every eye on the bridge. A livable planet! Food, water, vegetation, atmosphere... it appeared their search was over.
Even so, things didn't feel right to Crane. He noticed the hailing sequence was an automated signal, repeating the same message again and again. Life sign scans showed most of the life on the planet to be animal, but the atmosphere disrupted most of the scanning systems still operating on the ship. Crane decided to place Earth's Hope in a low orbit to break through most of the atmosphere and gain more information about the planet. His trepidation was construed as paranoia by the rest of the crew, who maintained there was nothing to be worried about.
It wasn't until the rockets began firing from the planet that Crane truly understood why he was worried. Two large missiles ripped through the flimsy shell of the ship, sending it barreling down the planet surface. The surviving crew escaped in the life pods, and fell toward the planet. Because of weak drive systems, the life pods were flung to all corners of the planet. Crane watched from the small window in the pod as his crew disappeared in the atmosphere. Would he see them again?
