Found this lurking on my hardrive. I'd forgotten that it's actually rather good if I do say so my self, so I decided to throw my creativity to the wolves ie. you lot. It doesn't have a title, and came about after I'd watched Titan AE and came up with an idea for a camapign...
[EDIT] Sorry about the dodgy formatting, I blame Sandwich...
Many lifetimes ago, our people outgrew their home. The world which had nurtured us for so long had been exhausted. With hunger and
longing, our eyes turned more and more often toward the heavens... and we saw the cosmos ripe for the taking.
Need drives innovation, and the discovery of sub-space brought humanity the miracle it craved so much. The solar system was ours. No planet or moon was beyond our grasp. Like a rose, we bloomed and spread outwards. Colonies were established around the farthest gas giants. The mysteries of the Oort Cloud gave themselves up to us. We took what we wanted and what we wanted was everything... we saw no bounds to our growth.
But still we stared further into the void. Curiosity and ambition had always held our people to ransom, and we could not be content with what we had. Even a solar system was finite, but the Universe could never be explored in its entirety and we were powerless to resist the lure. The challenge was set, and we rose to it.
Feverishly, we tried to decipher the enigma of inter-system jumps. With such a technology at our command our children could rule the stars, and we wanted it. The haunting call of the heavens ensnared everyone and became our driving purpose. Every resource we had was thrown at the problem. We had to have it...
Of course, our insatiable curiosity is matched only by our inventiveness, and in the fullness of time we achieved our goal. Inter-system travel. Within months we could have explored the farthest reaches of our galaxy. We would rule an empire, and it would be magnificent. Our people had come of age.
The whole world watched as the test flight was made. Whole worlds watched. Every man, woman and child stood in rapt fascination, ready for history to be made that day. And, in a flash of brilliant blue, it was over. The test ship had vanished. An entire race held its breath, and waited.
When the event horizon of the jump gate reopened scant minutes later, cheers and cries of joy fell silent. What emerged from the swirling haze of sub-space was not the test ship. It was like nothing ever seen before.
Larger than our most powerful security vessels by many orders, the warship plowed into our system. A jet-black monster thousands of meters long, spitting death from every point of its body, destroying whatever ventured near. The observation posts near the test site were obliterated instantly. Beams of pure energy lanced out from the arms of the beast and incinerated everything.
Despite our fear, our first instinct was to strike back. We would hurt this intruder, this murderer of our people. We would make it
regret ever setting foot in our space. We would make it learn fear of us...
Our strength was mustered. Humanity's finest gathered together to attack the beast, to strike at its black heart with all of our courage and power. Never in our history had such a force of arms been assembled. Once again, worlds turned to watch our finest moment...
The enemy seemed contemptuous of our threat to it, and lumbered through our space without urgency. It did not react as squadrons of avenging angels raced towards it, ready to administer the hatred of their race. We unleashed our fury.
Nothing known to man could have withstood the terrible fusillade. Our leaders even began to question whether we had over-reacted... but the people were resolute. The beast had to be slain. They wanted revenge, and the assurance that the stars held no terror insurmountable. Victory seemed within our grip.
Our offensive was a storm of a magnitude undreamt of. When it broke upon the back of the beast with no effect, there was a groan of despair which reached across the system. The best shot we could call upon had failed. In the horror of realization our forces were ordered to fall back and regroup. But the die had been cast.
From cavernous openings in the beast's carapace they came in swarms. Hundreds, thousands of new enemies poured forth to bring the fight to our very homes. Our security services, which had only a short time before seemed so imposing and almost indestructible, were broken and scattered. It seemed our doom was upon us.
Even as the one-sided fight raged and drew closer to the inner planets, designs for the future of humanity were taking shape. The only option left seemed to be flight. Our home world itself was a battle-zone when the transports began to lift off. Many were lost on the flight to the orbital construction platforms, where six vast ships stood ready to make a final bid for survival.
There was no time to wait for stragglers. Less than one hundred thousand people reached the arks before the order was given to cast off.
Untold millions were left stranded and helpless. We prayed that when their end came, it would be mercifully swift. We cursed that we could not help them, but there was nothing left we could have achieved. There was no time...
In a final act of defiance, the last of our fighting vessels flung themselves upon the invaders. The sacrifices made that day ensured the escape of the six giant arks. The ships had been made ready for inter-system jumps almost overnight, and we were grateful.
Suddenly, humanity had become an interstellar species. We did not stop to congratulate ourselves, nor did we explore the new star system we had reached. We jumped again. And again. And again, until we felt a little easier at the distance between us and them.
Now we wander the galaxy. Generations have come to call the arks home, though we know we are a homeless people. If the beast which destroyed our world and the destroyers who controlled it are also traveling the cosmos, we have seen no sign, and for that we are glad.
We have yet to find a new planet suitable for us... nowhere we can call a new home. We jump from system to system, sometimes remaining for decades to mine and harvest minerals and resources. Nobody knows what we may encounter in the cold reaches of space, but we are prepared to sell our lives dearly if need be.
The story of our downfall is taught to new generations even before they begin their education. Everybody aboard the arks knows the legend and can recite the lays of our people on demand. One day, perhaps, the son of my grand-son will forget why we do what we do... are where we are... are who we are.. but for today...
I remember stories of a glorious civilization. Of cities with spires which reached to the sun... of a blue planet, with vast seas... of people with myths of humanity everlasting... of children who saw, in the embers of dying stars, the destiny of their race.
And they hurled themselves in to the void of space with no fear...
They say our people have no present... only a past filled with horror...
...and a future we can only dream of...
