The bridge of the light carrier Alcyone was full of activity. All of the bridge officers were busily communicating with their departments elsewhere on the ship as final preparations were being made for launch. The Captain entered he bridge and took his station, calling for readiness status from his senior officers. The ship was full of nothing but fuel and expendables for the crew for the upcoming mission- all other cargo had been safely deposited on Erinyia. Finally, shortly after all departments had signalled ready for launch from orbit, the communications officer said loudly, \" Captain, incoming message from the Mountain\". Erinyia\'s government complexes were buried within a strongly fortified mountain. The Captain knew what this message was about, replying, \" Very well, ship-wide\". The First Director, head of Erinyia\'s system-wide government, sounded firmly throughout the ship; \" There is no way I can over-state the sense of pride and expectation of great things that all of us here- that you will be leaving behind on your historic and unfathomable journey of exploration- feel. We do not know what kind of wonders you will see, what kind of dangers you will face, but we know- all of us here on the three worlds are certain- that you, the crew of the Alcyone, will conduct yourselves always in a manner that will make us proud. We look forward to welcoming you back. Good fortune smile upon you all, always\". The Captain waited a full minute before he said to the bridge crew, \" All stations report ready, so let\'s get this going. Navigation, take us to the Gate\". The Alcyone slid out of Erinyia orbit and headed towards that still-mysterious area of space within Erinyia\'s system that was referred to as the Stargate. Weeks earlier, the first probe had been sent into it- it was known that passage through it was survivable. The first probe had traversed two Gates; after the first transit, it had sent back beautiful images of a giant nebula, from not many lightyears from the humongous cloud of ionized gasses. After it\'s second transit, the probe was near what appeared to be a graveyard of starships. Seven ships were detected, but there was no sign of life on any. The probe was then destroyed in it\'s function of searching for other inhabited systems. After weeks of researching the data transmitted back from the probe, it was decided to risk sending the Alcyone- so far Erinyia\'s only manned ship- through the Gate. The biggest variable being that nobody was sure exactly where Alcyone would emerge, and so the ship now carried nearly the civilization\'s entire supply of processed uranium for fuel. The ship\'s crew had been carefully prepared for weeks- this was the original journey into the unknown. But, to a man, all present would not want to be anywhere else. The entire crew had the same thought as the emergency claxon sounded throughout the ship, signalling all hands to prepare for the Transit...


More stories by Kondor:
• History of the Galactic Empire- I
• Skirmish at the Wormhole
• Voyage of the Alcyone- Part I