New planets new experiences

The little blue screen lights up as the video begins, the audio being transmitted directly to your audio implant. "We thank you for choosing Stellar Gold, the finest shuttle service, now with service to all 7 connected Galaxies with 2 more scheduled by 2475. Please enjoy this 10 minute video."

The year is 2469 humanity has known that they are not the only sentient creatures in the galaxy for over 200 years ever since a man named Roland Price, an avid sci fi film fan and genius discovered how to make a device that allowed a ship to briefly slide up the dimensional barrier and effectively fold space in front of a ship which in effect enables faster than light speed travel that has proven to be extremely safe as the ship is out of phase with reality so cannot collide with anything as it can simply pass through most anything, while still able to perceive the galaxy around it. He named the device the warp drive after his favorite movies. The first working prototype was successfully tested 3 years later and in a new frantic space race the United States had the first ship capable of surpassing light speed a year later. They launched a crew of two with a destination of Alpha Centauri at a speed of 1.23 the speed of light, when they arrived 1297 days later they were surprised to discover the city of New Kyoto, little more than a plot of land and several habitation modules, yes, but a city all the same.

The crew were greeted with much fanfare and celebration as poor Captain Mark Vance would forever be known as the first pioneer of interstellar travel that was beaten by ships that left a full two years after he did. You see while watching his invention come to life and the amazing ship take off Roland's scanners showed him a slight flaw in his design. It took almost a year to correct but as Japan was nearly ready to launch he gave them his new data and specs and they were the first to utilize it at full speed and their round trip flight lasted only 2 hours, and on landing back on earth admitted the trip only took 11 minutes the rest of the time was spent sight seeing. Using their shuttle like design they achieved planet fall the following year with help from The Russian federation and the United States and New Kyoto was born. Their final speed was determined to be 208806x the speed of light.

The first intelligent life was found the following year, sadly it was extremely hostile, and the Thikkids as they call themselves, discovered in a system 1173 light years from earth, have been a constant threat ever since. Their home world has not yet been found and their light ram ships with a top speed of 10x light mean that we always see them coming, and not a significant threat to earth due to the distance involved.. The peace accords of 2301 officially ended war between Earth and Thulla, a still unknown planet, but raiding and terrorism has never truly stopped. The Thikkids are nearly the same size as an average human with a purple hue to their skin, with pointed ears, slender builds, which led to many people calling them elves. They were also quickly proven to be genetically similar and not surprisingly the first hybrid was born within three years of first contact. Many fans of old cinema have declared that Star Trek was right and all intelligent life was modified or created by the same omnipotent entity as race after race of aliens were discovered and many have laughed at the reality that most aliens could be recreated using simple prosthetics and body paint. The joke that all aliens were humans with junk stuck to their faces was a sad form of early racism.

The first 11 year voyage to the Andromeda galaxy was made in 2525 by Francis Stuart and his ship the Odyssey was the first to find evidence of ancient technology that surpassed ours. A new method of travel was discovered, a Star Gate, again named with a wink and a nod to old cinema. It took a while to replicate, and star ships are still the primary method of travel. To date there are now 7 functioning Galaxy portals that are in space so ships can now travel instantly between the Milkey Way, Andromeda, the pair Ngc 300 and 55, Messier 87, the Tadpole galaxy, and the Triangulum. Several races also now regularly build huge galaxy cruisers that seem to be able in open space between two galaxies to increase their speed and a direct flight from the Milky Way to Andromeda has been confirmed to have been completed in only 4 months. However the Galaxy portals remain the primary method, and are used by merchants and other travelers every day.

The screen goes black with the intercom announcing, "Welcome to New Tokyo, the first exo-planet city. We hope you enjoyed our in flight video. Please present your documents to security as you exit the craft."

Excited to finally leave Earth on a trip without your parents, you exit the craft, collecting your bag as you head for security.

The guard is an amazing looking Allucian, like all of her race she has a perfect hourglass figure and powder blue skin. This one has her vibrant blue hair pulled back in a ponytail through the back of her security cap. She wears state of the art armor that looks very much like red and gray latex with a noticeable snake scale pattern in its structure. Her boots have 4" block heels which you are pretty sure aren't regulation, but maybe out here the dress code is a little more relaxed. She looks at you with her piercing green eyes and asks, "Name please?"

"Alex Fletcher." You say handing her your documents.

"First time off world?"

"No, my mom took me to the Calen Jungle resort when I was 12". You say with a smile.

"What is the reason for your visit?"

"Oh ya, here." You say pulling the letter out. A real letter is a rare and special thing you think with a smile, "I might be working with you soon. I just got hired by Nova Securities."

She reads over the letter before asking, "Just graduated?" You nod, "Might want to read the fine print. This is a offer to tryout, not employment."

"Wait, but it says..."

"I know what you are going to say, this gets you in the door, you have to tryout for a branch and pass the trials to get the job. This just means they found your school records promising, and you passed the physical." She can tell this gets you down a little, handing back the letter she says, "Doesn't mean you can't pass. Besides, got you a free novacom right." You take the letter and your smile comes back a bit. "Approved for entry." She says touching her temple to activate her internal com and the gate opens. "Go on in, just don't forget to select local time and network on your novacom, they don't always auto connect out here."

"Thanks." With a similar gesture you hit your com that lights up your hud and using your eyes as a cursor you make the advised changes. As you do a new message pops up. It is the address of Nova Securities and indicates your first meeting scheduled for 6 hours from now. Pulling up a map, you see it is about 5 or 6 minutes away. Looks like you have some free time. Looking around you see a casino, several bars, a strip club, several restaurants, and a museum.