Jack of Harts

The AI Council’s first interstellar New Voyager Program probe swarm to reach Alpha Centauri arrived in the system at twenty percent the speed of light. There were no major laser arrays to slow them down, which is why early versions of the probe swarm idea planned on a simple flyby. But the AIs did not want to simply shoot off into the void. They wanted to find and inhabit a new home, and their sails harnessed enough power from the local solar winds to make that possible. Not easy. Not without cost. But possible. They initiated their plan as they passed Proxima Centauri and entered the final phase of their voyage.