The United Space Coalition Saga - Book 1: Starfall

Prologue:

Mike himself had memorised the schedule already: at exactly 12 pm the James Watt would leave the Earth Station, on its journey to the Grand Central Station. It was a good solid six hour journey, and they were expected to arrive at about 6:13. Final checks would be done by 5:45, and all the engineers were supposed to be assembled and in dress uniforms at Platform One, ready to receive the guests of honour. There, the guests would perform the opening ceremony, with speeches and cutting ribbons and every thing, and a dinner to round off the event.

Mike himself had often wondered why they made the station so far away from Earth: after all, it was the site of almost all of the government, and the unofficial capital. But a year into the project, one of his friends, Bess, had told him that after this project, there were plans to build a joint project, to make a fully artificial spherical city in space. She had secretly shown him the plans, and he had been amazed at the size of it, It was as big as a planet, and an intricate network of gravitational fields would make the inside hollow: so people could live on the inside as well as on the outside.

It was meant to be the symbol of the Coalition, as well as a solution to the growing populations and connectivity. There was even talk that Earth would be encased in a clear shell like this new city, and upon hearing that, Mike had smiled: There really was no rest for the engineers, or so the joke went.

John clapped him on the back once again, propelling him towards a cluster of engineers who had pried a panel open. Let's take a look at what needs to be done, shall we? They walked over to the panel.", and as they peered down, an intricate and beautiful mosaic of electronics fused with centuries of mechanical knowledge met their eyes. "I don't see any problem here." said Mike, shaking his head.

The chief engineer let loose another booming laugh. "Of course there isn't! You know why? Because we are ENGINEERS!" At this, the whole roof exploded into laughter. "Now get down on your hands and feet and look busy, chaps. The show starts soon!" And at that, everyone spurred into action with renewed excitement, as the clanking and zapping of tools filled the air.

2 hours later, Mike found himself standing in the cool air conditioned space that was the left side of Platform One. He stared at the windows on either side of the docking tunnel. Although it was technically a train platform, it bore more resemblance to the airport gates and cruise terminals of the pre-World War 3 era. Through the windows, he saw the insides of a massive tunnel. Columns of magnetic field generators, tractor beams and braking clamps lined the insides of the oval tunnel, and on the other end he could see a few rows of windows identical to the ones on their side. In a few minutes, those windows would be blocked by the StarTrain; the first one of many that was to come. All around him, rows of engineers from many different species who had all worked on this project stood at attention, an air charged with electricity floated around them.

Most of the held expressionless faces: you couldn't really tell how they were feeling. But Mike knew they were all most likely excited at the final piece of the picture, about to come together and make the project whole.

Well, except for the Luminari members of the group. Their tails literally glowed a sharp purplish yellow, showing that they were nervous, and excited too. At times like this, Mike was glad for species with such obvious social cues.

His mind drifted to the history of the project. Almost no one had stayed on for the whole project, most either left or joined sometime in between. Mike was one of the exceptions: He had joined in at the very beginning. But he had managed to befriend many from both generations, and as he waited with bated breath, he reflected on the whole project.

The project, first of it's kind, had faced many many problems during it's conception. A project on such a massive scale, involving so many different parties and species and worlds would surely have some friction.