The hum of the engine the, weeen of the doors, the voices of the crew that filled the halls and rooms. This was all inside the mech colony ship Delta-1. It was the first to launch and so far the only one with a functioning quantum drive engine.

We were heading to the most distant star in our mapped system, we had to, the Chronis would find and eliminate us if we were to stay anywhere to long. We had just fought an onslaughter of 35 midships ranging from fighters to king ships twice our size and survived to a thread splinter close to destruction.

What saved us, the ship and most definitely humanity was the new upgrades to the quantum drive engines to punch out power levels 1200% than before. And to achieve this high output, I had to be creative as the engineer and designer of the tech, control systems and fuel type. I was the only one who could rebuild the engines while in mid-battle and still supply the ship and all critical systems with the necessary power necessary to function.

 The fight with them nearly killed the crew, those that were not trained in combat took preliminary starter courses to at least have a slim chance when face to face in person. I had my share of fights. To be honest, I was one of the only ones left of a tactical battalion that had fought them on a sigma system planet. I survived because I played dead and killed the death squadrons that were sent to capture us and torture us. I had to get the intel my battalion collected. We were supposed to watch their outter rim base. We did at first. Then we missed our exit and had to wait a month for the next one. By that time we were found and reinforcements were 3 days out. Theirs, not ours. We had less luck.  I ended up hiding in some trash and using to mask my sent. They found most of the others as they ran out of ammo. I conserved mine and sniped one off, pulled the body and used their weapons agaist the rest. By that time I had not slept or eaten in 4 days and was running on fumes. It did not matter, survival mattered. When rescue came I had my battallion ready for burial. I slept for a week in a medical induced coma because my body was eating itself. Imagine that. The plant had no vegetation or anything to hunt. It all was poison or tainted. Even the water was undrinkable.

 I hate remembering, seeing my friends as they died giving me a chance to get the intel and leave. None of them survived because I killed the enemy after they killed everyone else.

Their memories keep me working so that we can win this war and eliminate the chronis permanently. Because no other Delta-1 would get this upgrade right away, I cataloged every item and step necessary and the important steps to take to achieve our outcome. 5 months of on and off work on the upgrades and we finally had it. We could make the jump to the star. Where our new home would be. Far from earth but also very far from the Chonis. It seemed there were few areas we knew of that they would not go. We had to take refuge and rebuild. We had to take the intel which became the puzzle piece that could end the war that lasted 15 years and far too many of our own.

I was called to the bridge to oversee and witness the new engines and the distance they would go. A split second after the thrusters were engaged, a scout ship found us. We sliced it before it could communicate anything. However we had already primed the thrusters and this last minute action changed the trajectory of our ship into the far unknown.

There was a blinding and deafening light for what seemed like an eternity. Then back to space. Right away the navigators reported unknown coordinates not just in our u inverse but the information was unreadable. The computer did manage to find the word terrans. But the rest was garbled until it could see and learn more to begin an algorithm for translation purposes.