[Prologue] Space Travel Tip: How To Not Get F**ked Up

Space is immeasurable. Space is everything in the universe. It has been there for god knows how long, that even with the latest technology humanity holds; we could never truly see its end.

With every year that passes by, our newest types of machinery allow us to see further and further back, giving us an ample amount of insight into the very beginnings of the Universe's existence. But the vastness and mysteriousness the space holds do not seem to lessen one bit.

Master Sergeant Zachary Heather, a 47-year-old Solar Galaxy Space Force Official, is a byproduct of a military family, with a background that serves and handles missions and operations involving the space domain for generations. Growing up in such an environment, Zacharary dreamed of exploring the universe.

Having been promoted to a Master Sergeant at an early age, plus the fact that Zachary was at his 25-year count of military service at the SGSF with vast amounts of experience in Galactic Warfare and Exploration, he was chosen to be the leading figure to supervise a group of individuals that was tasked to explore XAI-26515, a newly discovered planet with a resounding 95% match of Mother Earth, located millions of lightyears away.

Albeit the advancement of technology, humanity still has a crude way of interstellar travels. This is via the creation of warp portals.

Through the creation of a man-made wormhole and stabilizing it, linking it through disparate points in spacetime, then making a transportation device that could handle such travels was the norm of voyaging the vastness of space.

At first, such expeditions were incredibly unstable and risky but were improved countless times over a few centuries total, till it has become a shortcut for long journeys across the universe, accessible to almost everyone.

Such divine move led to innumerable discoveries that rapidly improved a lot of aspects of life. This includes technological breakthroughs, debunking old theories about space further leading humanity to a better understanding of how the universe was created, and finding other habitable planets other than Mother Earth.

The population of humans increasing and the decline of natural resources are some of the many factors why the findings of habitable planets were very important. And Zachary was on such a mission right now. The difference was that their team is tasked on an assignment slightly further away than normal operations, the second being that the current mission will take longer than any usual missions everyone was given to, and the other being that there was a slight distortion on the space-time continuum discovered at the last warp point leading to Planet XAI-26515; which cut the crew's journey at a halt.

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"Sir Zach, Warp Point RK249 still shows no sign of stabilizing even with the engineers doing everything they can. If this goes on, then I'm afraid that we will be further delayed on our expected travel. It would take a few years-time for all the unstable factors to be determined and fixed. If we do proceed, then... it may lead to everyone's life at risk. Plus, with our limited supplies, we—... may need to abort this mission."

A withered old man adorned with a white lab coat cautioned the Master Seargent in a worry-filled tone. There were 17 other people with varying age groups in the meeting hall located at the mothership. Although the others did not voice out their worries, unease can be seen in their eyes.

Four years. It took four whole years to travel from earth to here. That is an estimated four to five years back as well. The resources it took and will take in the return trip were unfathomable for any of them. Even the Solar System's Administration Governance as a whole would receive quite the backlash if the team fails, due to 'a bit' of spatial distortion and return without any results on hand, much else them who were at the forefront of the trip itself. If the expedition does fail, some of the crew members even considered that jumping off to space and never coming back was a better thing to consider. They truly do not have the face to go back.

Zachary tapped his fingers at the table while contemplating.

"How are the calculations on the estimated distance error this spatial distortion can affect the warping?" Replied Zachary to the Old Scientist. The Master Seargent exuded a venerable and charismatic aura, calming the group by a bit.

"The calculations have come out as undeterminable. It seems that a strong electromagnetic pulse is being emitted due to the distortion, leaving all our scouting units to malfunction. The only way we would be able to estimate it is by using the warp point ourselves, calculating it manually while on the flight— for a 70% error estimation accuracy." A slightly young lady bearing the role of the crew's lead Astrophysicist answered immediately. A bit of frustration leaked out of her voice.

How could they proceed with such an answer? This 'little bit' of spatial distortion when traveling at a light speed would mess up the calculations by a huge huge margin. Calculating it while on warp mode was easier said than done. If that fails, then they would have to locate Planet XAI-26515 manually to where they were transported and travel to who knows how long it would take.

What if they were transported a few lightyears away from the destination? How long would such travel be without the use of warp points be? A few decades may be an understatement! Although humanity has progressed that everyone can live on an average of 400 to 500 years, a few decades of wandering in space may make anyone crazy.

Plus, with a much longer time frame of travel in consideration, there may be a possibility of them not having enough resources to go back to the Solar System anymore as well. Her reply to the Master Seargent was pretty much playing with everyone's lives here.

Tension could be felt around the meeting hall.

"If someone uses the Battlespace Cruiser it would be able to determine the exact coordinates of the warping. This data can be sent back to the mothership via lightwaves communication. We can then calculate the distance of error after that and adjust the Warp Point. Though it will take a longer time than normal to receive the transmission, it is a much more plausible conclusion to tread on with a huge margin of resource to be saved rather than the mothership itself traveling to who knows where we will be thrown at." A casual remark of a young male scientist conveyed. "It's just a matter of who will go and if they do dare to go. One sacrifice to the betterment of the whole, wouldn't that be quite heroic?" The young scientist harrumphed then jeered while looking intently at the military personnel. Having his first expedition already on the brink of failing, the handsome teen felt irked about the situation. There were too many things on the line on this trip. Failure was out of the question.

Many of the members around frowned but dared not squeak a complaint. It was practically a death sentence to use a battleship to traverse the vast space. It was intended for skirmishes against space pirates, scouting, and human slash cargo transportation. It was never designed and intended for long warping flights as it did not have enough energy to do so. Without energy to maintain space flight, you are left practically floating in the middle of nowhere.

One worry would be that just to save resources, SGSF may not even send a rescue team located a few lightyears away from a warp point and would be marked as MIA instead. At most the government would give the oh-so heroic soldier's family a big sum, praise them for their sacrifice and leave them be. It was for the betterment of humanity after all, as those resources may as well be used to navigate a more expansive path for future galactic colonization.

"I'll go." A slightly deep voice resounded throughout the meeting hall. This gave everyone a shock, as the one who raised his hand was the Master Seargent Zachary Heather himself. Even the young scientist who jeered at everyone a while ago paled at such a conclusion.

"Master Seargent, please reconsider!"

"This... Sir Zach, this isn't appropriate!"

"This can't be! Master Seargent Zachary, you can't go!"

"Sir Zach, it will be dangerous. Let me go instead!"

A series of clamors were heard around the place, as everyone opposed the leader's decision. Even the technical staff volunteered to go, this was how respected anyone from the Heather Family was, and how absurd the suggestion was to them. The Heathers were the pioneers of space exploration; always at the front of any expedition. From generation to generation, the Heather Family name was always present in any huge discoveries. Almost all of them grew up hearing the Heather Family's name, some of the old fogeys included in the scientist crowd of the current expedition themselves even worshipped the Heather Family.

It was also this resounding name that Zachary steeled himself to go. Besides that, space exploration was his passion! Such a chance of him being transported to a place where no man has tread yet was impossible to forgo. Zachary stared at the group and smiled.

"Is there anyone who has much more experience in space exploration than I do? Can anyone operate the Battleship Cruiser as better than I?" Zachary stood up slowly and flashed a powerful and confident smile; the crowd silenced at such a display. There wasn't anyone with such capabilities in this gathering. Heck, even on the whole solar system combined, there were only a handful of people better than Zachary Heather, and they were all part of the Heather Family! The leader was known to be a genius amongst geniuses in this generation, who would dare compare with him?

"Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend. As the head in command, I must get this project back on track! Also, the situation I will be undergoing is not as dire as everyone may think it is." Zachary clapped to gather everyone's attention.

"I will be loading the battleship with an energy extractor that I brought. I can always extract energy from any available stars that can be extracted. Although it's a bit dangerous, I have plenty of experience in that field."

Everyone's faces brightened after learning that an energy extractor was available for use. As expected of Master Seargent, he was prepared!

"Worse comes to worst, I can send a long-distance emergency relay signal to my family, although it's a bit embarrassing to say this, my family wouldn't pick me up, right?" Zachary chuckled which invited a few forced laughs here and there. If one looked closely, for sure everyone was still worried.

"Just to make sure, Tech department!" Zachary called out in a firm tone.

"Sir! Please relay your instructions" A man in glasses sharply replied together with an impeccable salute.

Satisfied, Zachary smiled and nodded as he continued.

"Load up one of each type of equipment that we brought. Fill up Macross 8.86, my prized mecha partner to the maximum. Please prepare all the essentials for the trip as well. Next is... Charlie, while I am away, you will be the head of the command. After relaying the estimated coordinate error transmission to the mothership, I will be heading to Planet XAI-26515 and recon with the rest of the team, no matter how long it may take. Let's move out!"

""As you command, Sir!""

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Proving the crew's competence, the preparations were completed swiftly and with prudence. Zachary readied himself on the trip. Having one last look at the mothership, he then activated the battleship engine into overdrive mode.

"Preparations complete. Overdrive progress at 95%, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100%! Ready for takeoff." Zachary cracked his neck while bracing himself for the takeoff. Looking at the left side of his peripheral vision, a bunch of data greeted him. After masterfully setting everything up, Zachary was finally ready to go.

Where this journey may take him? He did not know. For him, that was the fun part about space. Variables upon variables can happen in a single moment, a place where no one has ever dwelled upon was a thing that any explorer would embrace with open arms. This was but another adventure he will be treading on at space, and he was very excited about it. It was not his first time journeying into the unknown as well, so Zachary was very serene about the risks it may hold.

A voice was heard at the comms.

"Sir Zach, please be safe." A gentle voice of a woman was heard, filled with worry and care.

"I'll be back, Pana. Take care. ——Initiating lift off. Progress, successful. I'm going in everyone." A battleship furnished with metallic luster could be seen slowly approaching a spacious entryway right at the middle of the infinite space. Electromagnetic sparks could be seen intertwining at the warp point, giving it a sinister look. With such a sight, Zachary frowned. An ominous thought popped out of his head. In an instant, he then inputted a few strings of commands to check out any abnormalities.

"Primary observation— Portal Ether is stable, but the warp point seems to be acting off. Initiating microgravity environment safety scan. Scanning..... Scan Complete— Energy Density—Stable. Exotic Matter State— Stable. Cosmos Singularity— Stable. Hmmmm... That's weird. Reporting—All clear. Asking Mothership for authorization to proceed. Over." Zachary relaxed a bit. Seems that it wasn't what he thought it was.

"Safety confirmed, Master Seargeant Zachary Heather, please proceed. For the glory of Earth!" A monotonous reply was given by the mothership's command tower.

"For the Galaxy!" Zachary replied with pride as he thumped his chest with a fist as a salute. Activating the Battleship Cruisers engine from overdrive to hyper overdrive to the limits—bracing himself, he then slammed the activation key—which instantly propelled the space vehicle inside the baleful-looking wormhole.

Right at the time when Zachary's battleship was shoved inside the warp point—traveling at the speed of light— warning alarms rang. The Master Seargent, who was known for his experience in the field in regards to traveling the cosmos, stood there shocked at what he was seeing.

In Zachary's younger days he would often make fun of the people who thought about using an unstable wormhole to travel in the earlier ages of humanity, treating it as a tunnel in curved space-time. It was theorized that at the end of such a tunnel, what awaits them is a connection between a different world altogether. For Zachary, such a thought was pretty much asking for death. The funnier part is... he may likely be doing just that. Seems that he really played himself this time.

'F*ck!' That was the only word he could think of as his battleship was swallowed in a miniature unstable hyperspace-gateway to hell, known as the wormhole, right before warping.

Unusually, right after the incident, the wormhole vanished instantaneously—as if it was never there in the first place.