Some 140 lightyears from earth, near the once-
Cellean autocratic space's western fringe, there lies a binary star system by the name of Luekri. Around the primary star, Lok, there orbits a planet, around 180 million kilometers from its parent star. This planet was called Terenk. A barren rock by most considerations, there was nonetheless over 50 million people living on and around it. There was a nation, the Tesketi republic. This republic was confined to a single habitat, Kosmaellon. This habitat housed a few million people, and docked was a normal, ordinary trade ship, the
Halven.
For two hundred years or so, this habitat has existed, and the people aboard it lived in reasonably good conditions. They lived there, did trade with other nations, sometimes war, but overall, life was pretty standard.
Cataclysm
In 2627, while the Cellean empire was still collapsing, a fleet of warships of reasonable strength arrived in the system. Unaware of the near-annihilation of the empire, they were continuing their mission of finding settlements to conquer into the Cellean empire. At least, they were following orders modified by some remnant on a quest to destroy, not subjugate.
However the case may be, soon after their arrival, they began to systematically destroy settlements. First the habitats in and around Kegrat, a gas giant, then Shtik, then, after a month or two, they moved to Terenk. the military forces in-system, were they pooled together, which was impossible to do due to conflicting ideals and nation-business, would not have been able to stop half the Cellean fleet.
Eventually, when they reached Terenk, tension on Kosmaellon was obviously high, and chaos was barely contained. In this chaos, authorities managed to evacuate at least a tenth of the population onto various ships, one of them the
Halven.
Escape
While the
Halven was not by any means the only ship to escape, it was one of the only large ones. At that time, there were only seven interstellar-capable ships in the system. Then, the
Halven left, one of the last. Behind them, past the bright white streak of the antimatter engines, lie Terenk. Burning with a vibrant orange, the major zones of settlement were nothing but glowing ruins and desolated powder, annihilated by relativistic kill missiles and orbital bombardment. The orbit, too, was full of ruins, glowing bright like small stars. Some were being evacuated, and the distinct blinding light of the other ships' engines were a stark reminder of how few made it out. The ship began to accelerate to interstellar speeds, and left the system.
Voyage
Once the
Halven was out of the solar system and accelerating to 70% of lightspeed, the inhabitants could finally rest. There was a hundred thousand of them, give or take a few thousand. They had picked a star, suitably away, and had made a choice. A single star system, which had no name back then, at least not one known by them, a star designated with an official classification. Later, it would come to be known as Skettent, but to the wider world it is
Omega-Aerutka.
Over the course of the journey, generations were born, and many older ones had to be put on hold, often into cryosleep. This was due to the fact that the ship, some 3 kilometers long, could barely hold as many as that within it. During the flight, the inhabitants formed a sort of mythical perception of their home, Terenk.
Arrival
Eventually, of course, they arrived. In 2837, after over 210 years of travel, or 150 to them, they had arrived at
Omega-Aerutka. They had picked a destination within the system, the first gas giant from the star,
Jett. This they know as Journey's End. They had made contact with the nations in the system already, and had chosen the uninhabited Jett as their new home.
Once in orbit, the colossal engines of the
Halven were disassembled, and used to make tools and machines for construction. After a decade, the first habitat was finished. This habitat, made to serve as the capital, was christened Kosmaellon. From there, they would build more, and mine the giant's moons for resources.
Now, in present day, the
Halven has been motionless, orbiting the planet, serving as a home to many.
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