Planet Telex

Accord Homeworld, 2304
Wings of Silver Space Center, West Equatorial Region

"Today, we are on the brink of a new age."
The young Avian placed both hands on the podium, leaning herself forwards towards the microphone. Her aides had tried to make this a standard speech, but she had at the last minute ordered the platform to just outside safe range of the rocket launch, discarded the suit jacket she was wearing, and ignored the pre-written diatribe. This was personal to her, an event that could solidify her already legendary reputation as the Primus.
"It is not since the founding of the Accord that we have witnessed such a potential leap in our society. These brave pioneers, ready hundreds of meters above me, will be the first to breach our solar system and explore the stars beyond."
The crowd below Claws of Gold cheered, thousands attending her speech. She smiled down at them as the cheering subsided, the gathering slowly quietening for her next words.
"The Accord shall not know any boundaries from this day forward. No limits to what we can achieve, no restrictions on the heights we will ascend to, nothing standing in our way." Claws of Gold stood back, and lifted her arms up, framing the skyscraper-sized rocket mounted on its launching pad behind her. "We will face the darkness of space and we will illuminate it."
The crowd resumed its celebration, the journalists in the front rows snapping pictures.
A suited Agent approached the Primus, whispering into her ear. "Excuse me, but they're ready for launch now. We have to move you out of the potential danger zone if th-"
Claws of Gold waved the Agent away. "If these astronauts die, I die with them."
The Agent furrowed his feathered brow but returned to his post without argument. He knew there was no moving the Primus if she didn't want to.
"Ready for launch, countdown one minute." Mission Control announced over the speakers to the crowd.
"Let us say their names, those who will be enshrined in history." Claws of Gold said, holding up a sheet of paper. "Feathers of Indigo, Wings of Blue, pilots." The crowd cheered. "Crest of Purple, Chief Scientist." The crowd cheered again. "Talons of Grey, technician." The crowd continued their cheers, even through her words.
A few kilometers behind her, the rocket engines lit, silhouetting Claws of Gold in a light orange glow.
"Fifteen seconds…"
"Steadfast in their duties, may the Goddess be with them."
"Five seconds…"
The pilots slowly increased the engine thrust, the roar of the rocket motors enveloping the crowd.
"For the Accord!" Claws of Gold yelled over the din, raising a fist to the heavens.
"For the Accord!" The crowd shouted back, overwhelming even the liftoff announcement by Mission Control.
The Primus stood there, fist raised, as the rocket lifted off, the rush of displaced air ruffling her exposed feathers, dust dirtying her button-up shirt. The crowd howled in excitement as the craft cleared its launchpad, and even the Primus turned to watch it.
It was all anybody did until the rocket left vision, leaving only a grey smoke trail behind it.

The heavy launch craft carried a special payload, currently one of a kind. A corvette-sized spaceship was held within the protective fairing, fitted with a prototype warp drive. It not only was capable of faster than light travel, but went fast enough to jump between star systems in just days. The Accord could just breach light speed, but this was a major advance past that.
The target was the next star system, Willom.
"Approaching disconnection point."
"Understood, Pioneer. Authorised for craft disconnect when you're ready."
The rocket, shed of two of its three stages, hovered in orbit. With a button press in the cockpit, the fairing came apart, shielding drifting away from the dark grey corvette it had kept inside.
"Fairing disassembly complete, disconnecting…"
The pilot flicked a switch, the explosive bolts holding the corvette to the launch vehicle activating, freeing it. The sub-light engines were switched on, gently pushing the craft away from the rocket that put it into orbit.
"Disconnection complete, green across the board."
"Copy that, Pioneer, everything looks good from here. Continue on to point Theta, we'll send you the latest jump parameters by the time you get there."
"Thanks, Mission Control. Smooth ride so far, let's see how the new box of tricks treats us…"
The subsequent jump, as far as anyone on the Homeworld could gather, was successful.

Claws of Gold took a sip of tea as she listened to the briefing. The Science Director had been called to her office in the obelisk-like Ministry of the Primus, to give a report on the launch details. Claws of Gold knew how important this launch was, not only for the empire, but for her own status in it.
"As we've said before, due to our existing communications infrastructure being slower-than-light, we will only know about the outcome of the mission by their return… or lack of."
Claws of Gold nodded, taking another sip. "So we have no way of knowing… anything?"
The Science Director opened his beak, but hesitated, causing the Primus to narrow her gaze.
"Look." She said, placing her teacup down. "I don't want to give the populace any false hope, and your department has already issued a press release saying that there will be no public speculation. I just want to know if they made it."
"Of course, Primus." The Director opened their folder of reports, and flicked through it. "The radio transmissions of the ship were picked up even during light-speed acceleration. We were able to use the red-shifting of the radio waves to calculate approximate speed, and confirm they made the jump from the solar system."
"Promising." Claws of Gold replied, tracing a talon around the rim of her teacup. "You know what it means if this mission is successful, Director?"
The Director went to speak, but the young Primus seemed to have asked it rhetorically.
"It means we mustn't make the mistakes of our predecessors in handling it." Claws of Gold finished her tea, and stood from her desk to wander to the window behind her. "I was a child of the Reforms, you know. Dangerous times, even for me. Felt like the empire was on a knife edge, going to fall to a civil war not sparked from politics or religion, but poverty."
Claws of Gold paused for a moment, looking out over the cityscape.
"Isn't it strange how an advanced society like ours could have that? The interplanetary barges brought us more materials and minerals than we could ever need. Leaps forward in agriculture meant a single farm could feed tens upon tens of thousands. We knew how to eradicate nearly every ailment that might affect us. But still, we were poor. Hungry. Sick." Claws of Gold turned around, looking the Director in the eyes. "We did not use the technology for the greater good. It was used to benefit the few that needed it the least. We must not allow this to happen again."
The Director nodded. "What do you suggest we do, Primus?"
"We must prepare the Accord for the stresses of inter-system colonisation."

Claws of Gold paused the memory replay, and leaned back in her chair. The freshly painted colours of her office in 2304 gave way to their current faded state, the orange glow of the sunset filling her office replacing the midday white of the recording.
She thought back to the Director. He was since long passed, with a half dozen filling his post since. That was the same for everyone that had surrounded her then. She was the only one left that had witnessed the monumental launch, two hundred and fifty years ago to the day.
The significance of a simple primitive launch meant nothing to the Accord anymore, leaving the Primus to her own quiet celebration.
"Ibis?"
"Yes, Primus?" The Assistant replied, zipping over from her guard post behind Claws of Gold's desk.
"Fetch me another cup of tea, please."
The Assistant took the full teacup from the Primus, and went away with it to prepare a fresh one. It'd been over a hundred and fifty years since she was last able to drink whatever she was prepared, but the familiar feeling of the warm cup against her now-mechanised hands relaxed her.
"Here you are, Primus."
Claws of Gold took the teacup, and sat there with it, arms pulled up to her metal chest.

She felt like the Accord had moved on without her.