"Union 105, come in. This is Command."

"This is Union 105. I am in position" Yuri replied. He looked up the seemingly endless launch tube in front of the ship's window. Dim yellow lights lit the tube all the way up until they merged into a distant mass of yellow light, hundreds of miles away. Tracer fire crossed the tube in the distance, stray shots from the war against the rebel Unity Movement. Command’s output – a cold, feminine, automated voice - was crackly, coming over frayed wires and beamed to Yuri's spacecraft by worn out relays.

“Union 105 do you understand your orders?”

"Yes." Yuri understood his orders. The first part of his mission was to test whether the wormhole lock placed by the Sol Alliance was indeed deactivated successfully. The second order was to make the first contact with the Sol Alliance in almost 1500 years.

“Your primary orders will not be repeated. Commander Yurchenko has issued the following addendum to your orders...”

Command’s automated voice paused as it loading the addendum. Yuri wondered if he might finally hear Yurchenko’s voice. For five years he’d been receiving commands, but had no idea what the man sounded like. Maybe for a mission this important, he’d actually get to hear it, at least as a recording.

However, he was disappointed as Command’s automated voice continued.

“Yuri, we have no idea what awaits you on the other side. The Alliance may be a completely different society from the one we left. They may receive you peacefully, or they may try to take some sort of revenge on you for what happened in the past. We might hope that emotions have cooled after 1500 years. But we cannot be sure."

"These orders come directly from the Premier, so listen carefully: If they act hostile you are expected to surrender. If you do get captured, do not apologize for anything. They will likely claim that the collective demolished New York City, or that it deliberately attacked passenger lines between Earth and Mars. Do not believe them Yuri, these are lies. And tell them nothing about the rebellion or anything else that’s happening here, but do encourage them to make peaceful contact."

"Yuri – we’re running out of resources. I can’t say how many years of hydrogen we have left, if not months. We can scarcely even provide the hydrogen for this mission. We’ve depleted our water stores to the point where we barely have enough for the people to drink. Our only hope is to return to the Sol system and make peace with the Alliance. At any cost. Again, tell no one about any of this. Not the Sol Alliance, not your family, not even your fellow pilots. We will rise again and control Sol ourselves someday. But for now we must be patient."

"Good luck Yuri. I assure you that the danger of this mission is not lost on the Premier or myself, but we know that you will gladly accept that danger for the Collective.”

Command continued, with the same voice, but a different style. “This concludes the Commander’s addendum. Union 105, please confirm you are ready to begin launch.”

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Yuri felt a pang of something – excitement? It had been a long time since he’d been excited about anything. But his mind was filled with wonder about what might be on the other side of the portal. How had the Sol system changed in 1500 years? Surely Commander had some thoughts about that. How had their technology changed? How had their society changed? What could he expect?

“Wait - “ Yuri said. “I would like to ask the Commander something, can you connect him?”

“I cannot connect the Commander. Commander Yurchenko is currently busy.” Command replied immediately and flatly. “Is there any way I can assist you?”

Yuri sighed. “No. Union 105, ready for launch.”

"Confirmed. Beginning launch sequence." Command replied calmly.

Union 105’s launch speed was approximately 300 meters per second, considerably more than what was needed to escape Peace's weak gravity. It was a terribly uncomfortable jolt, and Yuri always felt a bit of apprehension beforehand despite having experienced it many times before.

"Launch Activated."

Yuri instantly felt his stomach press against the seat as he was fired out of the tube. A black dot quickly opened in the center of the mass of yellow light at the top of the launch tube, and instantly expanded to envelop him in blackness. He shot out of Peace's side, on his way to his destination.

The mothership retreated into the distance behind him. It was the largest battleship in the history of mankind, as least as far as anyone in the Collective knew. For centuries it terrorized the Sol Alliance as they struggled to build a fleet to stop it. In school he was taught that the war was purely defensive for the Collective. But there was a sense of collective memory among the adults in Yuri’s life, who seemed to silently indicate with their faces that they regard the official blameless Collective narrative as somewhat doubtful. The Unity Movement rebels took it further, blaming that the Collective for the separation with Sol, and envisioning an idealistic future with the Collective and Sol Alliance existing side by side. Little did they know they might soon get their wish.

Of course, Yuri wondered, if any of that mattered. Sometimes war is just about the asserting one’s power, the difference in ideology is just the excuse.

Yuri fired his boosters, maintaining his acceleration. In his earlier briefings,Yuri was given information that was outside of the knowledge of most of Peace's inhabitants. The wormhole seal was not, as he had learned in school, a means of keeping out corruption that had plagued the Sol Alliance and turned its inhabitants into criminals.

Instead, the Sol Alliance gained the upper hand. The mothership was the last remnant of the Collective Union, and escaped through a wormhole, only for the hole to be sealed by secret new technology from the Alliance. Since then, no member of the Alliance has feared the Collective. In fact, the Collective was most likely a distant memory to them.

That was until now. Commander Yurchenko did not go into details, but the Collective's scientists, working at Lock Station 5, have apparently been steadily removing the seal now for several decades, and believe it to be ready.

Yuri saw the distant glint of Lock Station 5 as he approached the wormhole. You nerds better have gotten this right. He thought at it. If the lock wasn’t removed, Yuri would explode as he enters. But then he saw it – rather than the black circle of the locked wormhole, Yuri noticed a light where it once was. Sol. As he came closer, he could make out the tiny pinpoints of Jupiter and Saturn around it. Light could get through, at least in this direction. Yuri hoped that meant a massive object like himself could get through the other way.

As the ship continued along the pre-programmed path, Sol got larger and larger. And then suddenly, Yuri felt a sudden jolt of acceleration as he entered the wormhole.

The feeling of being shot out of Peace’s launch tube was nothing compared to the wormhole. Having only read about the wormhole in an ancient, dusty manual in the archives, Yuri had no idea what it would feel like. But it was utterly horrible, it felt like his body was being ripped to pieces.

But quickly, it was over. Yuri was surrounded by the blackness of space.

It was an unexpected void. According to Commander Yurchenko, the wormhole should have put him directly into Earth’s orbit. But Yuri saw nothing in front of him. The only sign he was in the Sol system was Sol itself, shining to Yuri’s right. The chill of space permeated the ship.

Yuri felt very alone.