[right][sub]([i]Addressing: [@Tortoise])[/i][/sub][/right]
Kelsie’s heart was racing, and as soon as the airlock door shut after the last guest, she sent the escort away and then just sat on the floor. Her hands covering her face, she was trying to calm her breath, unsuccessful. What the hell was she doing? Did she seriously side with the unarmed clowns against a clearly technologically superior civilization? But what else could she have done? The Zetans were… she stood by her initial opinion that they weren’t human anymore and she hoped that the rest of the Guardians and the Grand General are going to agree with her. Because otherwise she is in really big trouble. She had to get it together, everyone on the ship was under her command, she couldn’t possibly let them see her like this.

After a few minutes, she walked to the bridge. “Parker, send a message to the ECU ship.” She had to make the most out of this diplomatic mess she has created. “Tell them that we would like to invite them to our homeworld Ellara and they are welcome to send their delegation whenever they see fit.” Kelsie assumed that Abadi would have to report to her superiors first and they would have to make some decisions. She wasn’t exactly sure what their government and decision-making process looked like, but she knew that especially the democratic ones could be pretty lengthy.

“Yes, ma’am. And the other ship?”

“No.” Kelsie didn’t want to talk about the Zetans. She didn’t even want to think about the Zetans. Parker seemed relieved. Apparently the crew of the Revenant didn’t really like the Zetans either, which gave Kelsie a small encouragement. "We can hang around for a few hours in case any other ships show up. Then we will head home." Kelsie turned to leave and nearly bumped into Harding.

“How dare you invite my assistant to such an important meeting instead of me?!” he yelled at Kelsie.

He took a very bad moment to pick a fight with her. “You are way out of line, [i]Commander[/i],” she said in an ice-cold voice. “I am the highest ranking officer aboard this ship AND I was appointed to lead this mission by the Grand General, so I can do whatever the hell I want to. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up to him when we return. But raise your voice on me one more time and you will be charged with mutiny and you know what happens after that,” she scolded him and walked out before he could respond. She had a half-mind of just grabbing him by his neck and kicking him right out of the airlock, but it wouldn’t be the best idea right now. Probably.

[hr]

There was less than zero privacy in the common bedroom, so Kelsie crawled into one of the storage rooms. This one contained a lot of boxes with god knows what, maybe even the original mining equipment that was supposed to go to the facility on Donut. She tied a hammock to the metal poles supporting the ceiling and was now chilling in it with a well thumbed book. The Long Path to Glory was a really old book, the first edition coming out well over a 100 years ago. Her copy was one of the newer re-editions, but the content remained the same. It was something like a Bible to the Undefeated, a recollection of all that happened when the colonists first arrived on Ellara, about the Elbow fever and, most importantly, the early losses and victories versus the Screechers. Every officer was encouraged to read those parts, to learn about past mistakes, to make sure not to repeat them.

But Kelsie turned the pages to the very beginning this time. She was trying to see what the original colonists, the people from Earth, the ‘real humans’ were like. What did they think, do, like and dislike? Kelsie and Abadi accused Sigma-Devi of not being a human anymore, but what if they were just hypocritical? Surely in 300 years their society has changed, developed. Did the Undefeated also strode away from what it means to be human? Kelsie didn’t think so, but there were no objective parameters to measure it with.


[hider=Long Path to Glory]
[sub]OT: feel free to skip this, nothing important here[/sub]
[h1]Long Path to Glory[/h1]
[h2]Author's Note[/h2]
The creation of this book was inspired by a recent sad anniversary. 50 years ago, in 117 AL (After Landing), the last of the original colonists died. Andrew Mason, the last of the true Earth-born, our ancestors. It is true that he had been only a few days old when the colony ship left Earth, so he couldn't provide us with any memories of our long-lost home planet, but he was the last person alive to be listed on the SS Proxima passenger list. While Mason's death might not be that significant to us now, its symbolism is indisputable - from that moment, we were truly on our own, a new nation rising on this God-forsaken planet, built on the bones of our heroic ancestors. I believe the stories of those early days and years, no matter how tragic they might be, should not be forgotten. We might be victorious now, but we must always remember our past defeats, for he who forgets the past is destined to repeat it.

This publication has been compiled from various contemporary sources, both official and unofficial. Some of the official reports and other documents had been classified until now and this will be the first time their content will be made public. The unofficial sources vary greatly - I mostly use excerpts from private diaries or messages and cite articles from contemporary periodicals. I have had several hours of video footage at my disposal, some shots were beautiful and captured happy moments, others were tragic or disturbing. Wherever possible, I try to provide a detailed description of these footages or have illustrational images attached. You can find more information and content on my Net site.

[h2]Chapter 1: The Paradise[/h2]
[h3]Report written by SS Proxima captain Grant Park[/h3]
SS Proxima exited the Gateway at 14:38 ship's time. The passage was instant, without any noticeable phenomena. I have ordered a diagnostic of the ship's systems, resulting in no errors. The crew and the passengers do not seem to be suffering from any side effects either.

The Gateway closed behind us immediately and has not shown any signs of activity since that. Efforts to contact Earth or any other colony ship have been unsuccessful. Star alignment scans predict that we are approximately 12 000 LY from Earth, in a system designated FT-8PO.

The star in the system classifies as a G2V star, it seems to have similar age and size as Earth's Sun. Out of five planets orbiting the star, two are too small to be able to hold an atmosphere and two are gas giants. Fortunately, the initial scans of FT-8PO III are more than promising. The planet is about Earth-size and has a breathable atmosphere. There are large oceans surrounding several continents. The land is covered by vegetation. There are no signs of any advanced life - the space around the planet is empty (except for three natural satellites, to be thoroughly probed later), there are no apparent structures, no measurable electromagnetic fields.

The scans have suggested several possible landing locations, I have chosen one on the largest continent, north of the equator. The environmental conditions seem to be stable, there is a large reservoir of water nearby and enough flat empty space to both land the ship and start the colonization procedures.

Landing attempt scheduled to 6:00 ship’s time.

[h3]Prefab quarters brochure[/h3]
This leaflet contains assembly instructions for DA-X-50 prefab building. DA-X-50 is part of our basic and emergency accommodation product line. If you are looking for more space and comfort, check out the DA-A or DA-C product lines.

Fully assembled DA-X-50 houses 500 people while maintaining the upkeep costs as low as possible. Originally designed as an emergency measure during disasters and calamities, now it is mass produced for all the colony ships leaving Earth. The basic suite contains two bedrooms (each for 4 people) and a separate bathroom. There are 50 suites on each floor, along with a common room and a cafeteria. The base building is just 5 stories high to remove the need for personal elevators. If you are looking for buildings with more stories, check out our DB product lines.

DA-X-50 comes as a prefab consisting of over 150 000 parts that need to be put together in the correct order. The manufacturer does not take liability for any damage caused by incorrect assembly! Consult diagrams 1 - 687 for each step of the assembly. Note that the electric network connectors (as shown on diagrams 250, 267 and 415) need to be connected to a stable power generator (for detailed specifications on power requirements see table 4.15). Each building prefab contains a small recycling facility (see diagrams 105-108). This facility, provided it is stocked with required chemicals and filtration materials, can reduce building’s water consumption by up to 90%. Basic packaging contains enough materials for 3 months of operation. Please contact our sales department if you wish to order larger amounts.

We hope you are satisfied by our high-quality products. Happy living!

[h3]Excerpt from Aryanna Miller’s private diary[/h3]
[sub][i]AN: Aryanna Miller was 16 years old when the SS Proxima traveled through the Gateway. Her father was in the ‘essential personnel’ group and was allowed to take his family (Lori (38), Aryanna (16) and Zetan (8)) along.[/i][/sub]

I know I’m gonna repeat myself, but this ship SUCKS hard. So many people crammed in here. Could you actually believe that they made me sleep in one bed with my brother? How old am I, 5? To hell with all this, I should have stayed back on Earth with Kaytlyn and Peyton. But no, my dad had to move his over-privileged ass on this floating rust-bucket and drag us along. At least Malcolm got to come too. I don't know what I would do if I had to leave him back there too.

[i]AN: several heart drawings and unintelligible scribbles follow until next page[/i]

He contacted me! I wasn’t even sure he remembered my name, but he did and he sent me  a message and he is sooooo sweet. He wanted to meet in the storage room by the recyclers in the evening, but my stupid mother insisted that we ‘spend the last evening on Earth as a family’. We are gonna spend the next million evenings as a family! If we survive going through that Gateway thing that is. 

You know what the dumbest thing is? Even though we are going to a new planet, we still have to go to school after we land. Like seriously, a SCHOOL is among the first things they build on a brand new world? They keep repeating to us that we are starting a new society. Can’t we start one without learing about fuckin Shakespeare over and over? Seriously, I was so mad when they told me, I punched a table and broke my fingernail. And I haven’t had time to have it fixed. But no, nail salons aren’t gonna be built any time soon, because apparently, having nice nails isn’t important at all. So, not only I’m gonna have to go to a new school, but I’m gonna have to go to a new school with a broken fingernail. Worst. Day. EVER.

[h3]The New Land - Gaia Starshine[/h3]
This
is our new land.
Our new land
better than the old land
We
are the old land
We
must become better
for our new land.
We
are the new land.

[h3]Dr. Pearman’s audio notes - transcript[/h3]
[sub][i]AN: Dr. Frank Pearman was an accomplished botanist, leader of the botany department of the expedition’s science team.[/i][/sub]

Another sample, this one is marked OI-17, location is square 7, that’s the beachy area north of the city. Collected by, uhh.. I can’t read that. Dorris? Boris? Hey Bob, do we have any Dorris on the team?

[i]unintelligible response[/i]

Ah, OK, thanks. Sample OI-17, collected by assistant Morris. One would think that a postgrad student should be able to at least write their name. Anyway, the plant was collected while blooming, there are two large spike inflorescences made out of bicolored florets, red and dark blue, maybe purple? Yes, let’s put purple. Leaves are deltoid, growing only from the bottom of the stem. Center of the leaf is light green, almost white. The plant emits a strong scent, not unpleasant, reminding slightly of jasmine, most likely to attract local pollinators. The root system is simple, several thin roots run from the base of the stem, it doesn’t seem to go very deep, most likely due to the plant naturally growing very close to the water.

The, uhm, DNA results show wide similarities with samples OA-5 and PI-19. Their inflorescences are a bit different, probably showing that the plants belong to the same genus. The genus was named Lysimachia, names for the individual subspecies are to be determined later.

[i]noise from the background[/i]

Oy, Frank, come look at this!

Bob, I’m actually working here. What?

[i]excited shouting from the background[/i]

Allright, allright. So, what do you have here? Some kind of… carnivorous plant?

It’s not just carnivorous, look. It eats anything!

A chocolate bar, really Bob? What a scientific method.

Nono, look at that speed. You watch the main plant - the beautifully colored trap. You see the huge pair of terminal lobes that are hinged at the midrib that catch the prey. And it has quite a grab. But what you don’t see is that.

Holly shit!

[i]sound of someone jumping up and hitting something, probably a lab table[/i]

Right? The main trap, while dangerous itself, also functions as a lure to draw the bigger prey in. And these longer vines, see how fast they move?

Jesus.

They latch on to anything and don’t let go easily, look at my leg. It’s like getting waxed. Honestly if this thing had grown on Earth, it would be pretty high in the food chain. We estimate that they are strong enough to hold and slowly strangle an animal up to the weight of approximately 25 to 30 kilograms, using its corpse as a source of nutrients.

30 kilograms?!

Yes, it is about the size of a medium dog.

Yea. Or a child, Bob. This thing could literally eat children. How many of these plants are there?

Uh. A lot. We should probably tell someone.

[h3]Excerpt from Aryanna Miller’s private diary[/h3]
This planet is a dump. The damn ship was crowded, but this is an entirely new level. We actually share a bathroom with another family now! How disgusting. There are building machines [i]everywhere[/i], you can’t even cross the street. Not that you would have any reasons to cross it. We are only allowed to go to school, which is the building right next to our super-ugly gray block they call the living quarters and then back home. I’m gonna go CRAZY in here soon.

The school is… well it is school. The same boring stuff as back on Earth. Sometimes I feel like we never really left the planet, just moved to a much worse neighborhood. There seem to be a lot more nerds in the classes here, how fair is that? All the cool people were left on Earth and the nerds and weirdos shipped off to another planet. It would be awesome if I somehow didn’t end up here as well. There are a few girls that would be acceptable as friends, I’ll see if any of them will be good enough for me.

The only good thing about this whole mess is that I finally got to meet with Malcolm. He lives in another residential building so it was a bit tricky, but he waited for me in front of school and walked me home and he is so awesome and smart. In the evening I told my mother that I’ll be visiting Ginny, one of the new potential friends, and met up with Malcolm on our roof. People aren’t normally allowed to go there, but Malcolm said he is a very important person in the future government and he has keys to everything. You see, he is not a dumb teenager like those pimple-faces at school. He is 25 (I think) and he is so much wiser. And handsomer! Ginny promised to cover for me. If she does, maybe I’ll consider putting her on a shortlist, even though her parents aren’t really anyone important.

Anyway, we are on the roof. If there is one good thing about this dumb planet, it’s the stars. When was the last time you saw stars on Earth? Sure, you see them from the space stations, but from the actual planet? Never. Here the night sky is just amazing. There are three moons and what looks like billions of stars. Malcolm said that he has an uncle in the astronomy science team and that even though it will be really complicated, he might put a word when they are naming the new constellations to have one named after me. Could you actually believe it?! No more Big bear and Little bear, but Aryanna, right there in the night sky!

All that he wanted for it was a kiss, and, well we would have taken it even further, but some guards came to the roof for a smoke and we had to hide. What a dumb luck.
[/hider]