[h2]Theta Leonis - Well of hope - Senate floor[/h2]

"We must explore our ancestral home, it is the most reasonable place to start." stated Jakus Hal, Senator of Hab-London. "Not only to see the fate of old Earth but it would be the only common ground any other surviving civilizations have. It-"

"Assuming there are other civilizations" said Irra Tosk CEO and Senator of the Fusion Core shipyards glumly

"Of course there are others!" shouted Derus Noi Senator of Hab-Moscow "We survived and thrived with nothing but a useless dead world to colonize, it is preposterous to assume none others did."

"If nothing else, we must send ships to explore these new systems to assess any opportunities and dangers, Perhaps there are hostile aliens with access to a gate, or an empty system with a neutron star to study." Interjects Senator Fabion Oris of the Outward Bound research group

Talks continued for months on what actions the senate should take, or if the senate should take action. As the Senate slowly ground on many Habitats began making deals, alliances, and partnerships to refit a ship as a dedicated explorer. It was equipped with the best sensors, computers and defensive abilities that could modified quickly. Before the Senate had reached any form of conclusion. However it was beginning to look like the Senate might come to the conclusion to help fund exploration efforts sometime in the distant future, long after research vessels had already left the system. 

[hr]
5 months later - New Horizons Explorer ship - Gateway


-=Alert=-
Approaching Gateway - Unknown danger - Please Alter Course


Captain Threa waved a dismissive hand at the computer screen "Dismiss" she said flatly, awaiting the next automated challenge. Her ship, a modified Asteroid surveyor, is a small and light craft compared to the hulking bulk transporters or mobile factories that crawl around the system with very few crew. Several scientists, handful of engineers and a pair of Envoys recruited by the sponsors of the explorer who largely waited out the Weeks long journey to the gateway.

-=Alert=-
State Intention and Habitat of Origin

Captain Threa sighed "transit through the Gateway, Habitat is the Outward Bound Research site Delta." Her ship was still days away from the gate and the interface for the gateway her ship was equipped with was a copy of the ancient relic from the original colony ship which was still docked at Hab-Delphi as a museum piece. Nobody was entirely sure it would activate the Gateway if they where honest. Even as she considered the possibility of the system not functioning it started communicating with the gate, lists of destinations populated. The captain selected Sol and would be taken to the cradle of humanity.

As the ship arrived in Sol several signals where detected from ships and stations in the system. The scientists where discussing the data from their sensors animatedly but Erin Penn spoke up "well, It seems the Jakus was right, the Sol system seems inhabited." The captain fired the heavy ion drives and broadcast a signal.

"This is Captain Threa of the New Horizons Explorer, We bring welcome from the Theta-Leonis system" She said while the crew waited excitedly for the first contact with their long lost cousins.