The first hyperspace engines were painfully slow by modern standards, achieving barely over four times the speed of light. The trip from Earth to Alpha Centauri took a year. While short compared to the later Pre-Contact Colonization Missions, let alone the Vulcan Missions to The Wall, NASA’s Centauri Missions were our first tentative steps into the galaxy. And like our flights to Luna or Mars, it was scientists who were the first to live on New Earth.
The Hyades Campaign was long, destructive, and bloody. We spent thirteen years digging the Chinese and their allies out of the Hyades Cluster. It really was Hell. The USS Minnesota was my ride for most of the last year, thank God. She picked an Indian maiden for her avatar, and we spent a lot of time together, watching our lives pass before our eyes. Those were amazing bonding experiences. We did it way too many times, but we made it through alive. Barely.
Ethiopia is one of the oldest civilizations on Earth, trading partners with ancient Rome, Persia, Egypt, India, and China. When they went to space with us, they named their first colony Aksum, after their capital during the time of Christ. I stayed there to study the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and became friends with the Empress of Ethiopia on one of her trips to the world. She wasn’t Empress back then of course. We still talk, and I help her when she needs it.
At the dawn of the twenty second century, we had a bustling interplanetary economy. Colonies on Luna, Mars, Venus, the Asteroid Belt, and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn had spread our race throughout the Terran System. We planted colonies and factories and mines everywhere we could land. Hundreds of thousands of us lived away from Earth. We were a true interplanetary civilization. And then we found hyperspace and the stars opened to us.
The South Africans seriously know how to fight, as the Brits, the Muslims, and any other foes can really relate. I’m talking nightmare material here. When they joined The War, they made a serious impact, sending several squadrons into the thick of the fight. They sent the SAS Mendi to join The Fleet, and I got to fly off her. They were great partiers out of battle, and amazingly stoic fighters when the time came. It was an honor. Scary sometimes, but an honor.