The Nomad's launch had been preceded by weeks of the most frenzied celebration in the planet's history. Champagne parades, pastries of lissome angels, and parties galore.
After centuries of internecine strife, unification had come to Cassus. All now strived under a single banner. No longer would the lives of precious scions be frittered away in corrosive fortune redistributions. The planet's wealth had been carved out. A galaxy of greater riches awaited. The first step was to survey these distant realms and assess their potential.
Eager to enfold the myriad life-forms in its firm embrace of entrepreneurial spirit, the Cassians brooked no expense or technological bottlenecks in making space exploration their new priority. There had been the usual false starts and occasionally fatal growing pains of any expansion. More than a decade was spent debating whether to send a manned expedition at all but in the end it was decided that interstellar relations were too critical to entrust to machines.
Designing the Nomad itself took nearly a century. Selecting its crew took even longer. Those most curious about the wonders of the universe firsthand weren't necessarily graced with physiques conducive to prolonged existence in deep space, let alone conditions likely to be encountered on prospective planets. Personnel able to tolerate and function despite these rigors not only had to be trained but bred over generations, then enhanced for everything from metabolic bone density to diplomatic relations.
Sonoda had insisted to be granted final veto power over all crew members. With decades of training and self-discipline at his back, he had considered himself impervious to forming sentimental attachments.
