Stardate: 60804:1800
Title: Origins
Author: Mikilous
Time: 100 Years Ago To Present
Scene: Latheion System / Tharan 3


The biggest civil war in the history of their people would not be a chapter that would be relived without a shudder of fear. Death was more popular than eating as the different factions focused on killing and victory instead of producing food and surviving.

The three worlds of the Alliance fought for supremacy, battling on the ground, in the air and in the further reaches of space. Well thought-out campaigns of strategy and tactics were fast turning into bloodbaths and massacres. Desperate were the waging enemies to gain any advantage over the opposition that they were too blind to see that they were actually on the verge of bringing about their races extinction.

Many Latheion’s were weary and wanted nothing more than to stop fighting and rebuild what had once been a great alliance, starting again to make cities to be proud of. At present all they had were bombed-out slums that had taken the place of the previously tall and proud buildings that had been a testament to their technological achievements.

Mikilous was one of these people and as he sat on the bridge of the 'Faithful' he contemplated taking his ship and leaving this system forever. His wife was in their quarters on the ship and would no doubt be reading a bedtime story of the Latheion's historical glory to their small daughter, who would look wide-eyed and excited at the thought of such a peaceful life. He was disgusted that in her short life she had not known a time when they weren't at war.

His current mission was the delivery of food supplies to some of the smaller outposts. As the ship came within visual range of the outpost Mikilous gasped in horror. They were in trouble - the fighting had spread much further than the news had reported and now the 'Faithful' was entering a warzone. He vividly remembered yelling at his crew that they had to run; They didn’t have the firepower to protect themselves and their cargo. Praying that they could leave the scene whilst the other ships were engaged in destroying each other had been wishful thinking at best, and the damage from the first shot caused internal explosions large enough to kill four of the ten people onboard.

Firing everything they had and running as fast as they could the 'Faithful' took two more hits; one more life was lost and internal sensors and vital systems had stopped responding. With survival on his mind Mikilous had kept the vessel going away from the fight which was slowly fading behind them, but with no navigation they were effectively flying blind. After checking his family were safe Mikilous return to the bridge and with the help of two crew members that were left they tried to repair the damage. After many hours of exhaustive efforts they decided to re-route all remaining power to lifesupport and send a distress signal along with a silent prayer. They hoped the right people would pick it up.

Luckily for them there was no worry about food supplies - they broke into the cargo they had been carrying - and as they drifted aimlessly in a black sea of stars there was a calm tranquil feeling to life.

No sensors had warned them of the impending danger; instead it had been Mikilous's sixth sense that had bought him to the front viewport where he saw that they were approaching an unknown planet, and were surely to be caught in its gravitational pull. Trying to fire up long dead systems was an act of a desperate man but there was really no other option.

The impact of the crash sent everyone to the floor and there they lay for a very long time.

~

When Mikilous awoke with a thunderous pain in his head it took him several minutes to identify the distant noise. It was the sound of his wife crying - nothing else could have bought him out of the stupor so effectively. Getting to his feet slowly he made his way to the noise. He passed the last two remaining crew, but neither had survived the impact and grief filled his heart. Nothing, however, could ever have prepared him for the sight of his wife cradling their lifeless baby girl. He fell to his knees and let out a deep cry of grief and pain. Days could have passed while they sat in grief and anguish. When they did eventually move they were slow and sluggish, not sure whether they could carry on.

The planet was fairly hospitable but after the loss of their daughter Mikilous's wife was sick from the very depths of her soul. A year later a common flu virus took hold of her and she didn't have the energy to fight. Instead it was almost as if she gave up and welcomed death.

Left alone, Mikilous had lost everything. He had started sleeping eighteen hour days dreaming of the world and family that were now lost to him. He lived in his spacecraft unwilling to lose the last few ties with his family and he ventured out rarely. Then the first of the others had arrived. They were not like him these aliens, and he had not wanted to make contact feeling that in some way he should suffer a life of solitude for not saving those who were important to him. Almost a century passed and he went from the prime of his life to an aging old man. Over time he had come into contact with maybe a handful of the others and the interaction had never been significant in anyway.

Then they had started dying.

When it became clear that they were dying, some of them alone, he broke his solitude and sat with those that were facing death alone and sang the songs of his people to try and comfort them.

The people who had landed the majestic space craft were now in the 'Faithful' looking for him. A mixture of feelings rushed and collided in his head. He was so very lonely and he had suffered such a long time alone without his family. They approached him with caution.


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Mikilous
Captain of the 'Faithful'
Latheion System
Original settler on Tharan 3
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Lt. Autumn Falls
Acting Chief of Operations
USS Horizon
NCC–72400
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