[center][img]http://img12.deviantart.net/ad88/i/2013/248/3/8/130904_into_the_atmosphere_by_jimduda-d6l23u2.jpg[/img]

[h1]N O
[color=00746b]T U R N I N G[/color]
[color=black][b]B A C K[/b][/color][/h1]
[sup][h3]CHAPTER 1 : INTO THE VOID[/h3][/sup][/center]

Rear Admiral William Locke stood in his uniform, arms behind his back. The bridge was a hub of activity, though they all spoke in a hushed tone. All the systems were ready, tested on the test flight to Mars months ago when picking up any passengers from his home planet. Part of him wished he had been able to spend more time on the surface, as he knew for a fact he would never be returning to the Red Planet. Though he supposed those from Earth were having the same feeling around about now, this would be the last time they would see the cradle of humanity. He envied the Armani slightly, they had never really called a planet home instead they had ships and the [i]Vitae[/i] was a hell of a ship. She had systems far more advanced than any ship ever had prior to the Genesis Project and her crew were all elite, the bridge crew alone probably had more commendations than the entire crew of any ship he had previously served on.

He walked up to the central console, where currently a hologram of Mars was playing. The [b]Devastators[/b] had already arrived and were tearing through the hastily refit ships of the Martian Navy, weapons fire from the planet contributed to the battle but it was obviously a loosing fight. He thought back the tears, the urge to go and aid the battle. The last orders he would ever receive was to safeguard this Ark and her passengers, and that was what he would do. He tapped a series of keys on his console, as the image of Mars disappeared and the [i]Vitae[/i] appeared. On both sides of the hologram squares appeared each of them denoting a key system, each turning green as the people responsible for those systems announced that they were active and ready to go. Pre-flight was a slow process, but to limit the chance of [b]Devastator[/b] interference the Arks had been instructed to take off as late as possible to try and avoid detection. 

"Admiral." William turned as the Comms officer spoke to him "Transmission coming in from Admiral Black aboard the [i]Nirvana[/i]." William nodded as he turned back to the console on front of him, on the bottom of the console the torso and head of the Admiral appeared. He had been waiting for the call ever since they had lost contact with Constantines fleet.

"Locke-" The hologram stuttered slightly due to interference. "-We're approaching the Eye now, and still no sign that the [b]Devastators[/b] have detected us, can you confirm?" Locke turned to another one of his officers, who simply nodded.

"I can Admiral, they still appear to be occupied with Mars. No sign that they've started to move on us yet, your window is clear." He had to fight the choke in his voice as he mentioned Mars, so many lives. It was against every instinct in his body to leave them all behind. "God speed Admiral, and good luck. Hopefully we'll meet again." He offered her a salute, and couldn't refrain from smiling a sad smile as she returned it.

"You too Locke, [i]Nirvana[i] out." With that the Hologram disappeared, turning his attention down the console before him he nodded as the [i]Nirvana[/i] disappeared from his sensors. This meant that it was time for the [i]Vitae[/i] to leave. 

"Comms, give me ship wide." There was a low ringing tone over the intercom, alerting the ship to the announcement. "This is the Admiral. Genesis Protocol is now in effect-" 

[hr]

William looked at the name on the file and picked it up, looking at Admiral Roland Constantine with a raised eyebrow "Genesis Protocol, sir?" The Admiral nodded as William opened the file. He pulled at different pieces of paper as he tried to get the cliff notes, hyperspace travel and a collection of twelve Arks. Each ship capable of playing home to thousands of people, the [i]best of humanity[/i]. "With all due respect sir, without all the paper what is it you're asking me to do?" The Admiral leaned forward in his chair, you could see the bags under his eyes. Burning the candle at both ends in being a high ranking military official at a time such as this, and being a national icon had obviously not been easy for the man.

"What I'm asking you to do is command one of those Arks." William looked back at the file and back up at the Admiral as he continued. "We're pouring a lot of funding into military advancements, but the truth is the egg-heads keep telling us it won't be enough. Not with the size of fleet that's coming for us. With Genesis protocol we're throwing traditional things like currency out of the window, twelve Arks the peak of human technology filled with the best minds we have to offer sent into the depths of space. We're facing extinction here Locke, not a lot of room for error." The look on the Admirals face was serious, you could see the pain that a protocol like this was causing the man. Career military, leave no man behind. That was a code William had lived for his entire life, now he was being asked to turn tail and run.

"Sir-" Constantine just raised his hand.

"I know what you're going to say, you're the sixth military man I've had to interview for this. You can do this, you [i]need[/i] to do this. Our way of life, our history, hell even our species is at risk here. You're up for the task, otherwise you wouldn't be here."

There was nothing that could be said, there was no fighting it. You could see from the pain in the mans eyes that this was it, this was the last hope they had and it was tearing him apart. "Can I ask another question sir?"

"Go for it Locke."

"Why all different locations?" He opened the file to the page where it detailed the transit through something they were calling the [i]Eye of Theia[/i]. "It says that each Ark will be sent to a completely different sector of space, is that not risky Sir? Surely there is safety in numbers."

"Safety. We don't know what you're jumping into, if we send all the Arks to the same locations as each other there's a chance we could loose them all in one go, but if they're all flying solo if we loose one, we just loose one. Now, about [i]Exodus...[/i]

[hr]

"-You're the best and brightest humanity has to offer, but know that this mission will not be easy. There will be hardships, and there will be sacrifice. Though if we stick together, work side by side with our fellow man we will pull through. The future of our species is in our hands, never forget that. Never forget that you were chosen to continue our species history, our legacy, as we leave others behind to a fate we do not even want to contemplate. I promise you now, that I will give you my best if you do the same and that together we will see our species survive, and thrive once again." He took a breath to let everything he had said so far. "I have faith, now. Action stations, all hands prepare for lift-off." 

He nodded to Col.Theodore to begin bringing the main drive online, which likely wouldn't take very long given the fact that they had been sitting ready since the [b]Devastators[/b] first entered the solar system days ago. The low buzzing of an alarm came on to announce the call to action stations and he nodded as he heard the different stations on the bridge erupt as everyone took to doing their jobs. He keyed the console as the hologram of the [i]Vitae[/i] panned out, showing the landing strip. Eleven Arks raring to go, it panned out further and further until it showed the Eye of Theia, and then a green course lit up showing their plotted course.

William nodded as he let go a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Everything was ready, they would survive. "Well." He noticed several heads turned to face him, most likely wondering who he was speaking to. "There's no turning back now."