SS Ascension

The SS Ascension was a British colony ship that was the first Human starship to break free of the Sol Solar System and venture forth towards the stars. Using experimental Transwarp Shunt Technology salvaged from the Sontarans, the ship was able to travel faster than light and was officially commissioned in the year 2101. After activating the drive and blasting off into the dark reaches of space, the ship was not heard from for 3 years, and was assumed to be lost with all hands.

However, scientists on Earth pondered this event and many claimed that the ship was not destroyed, as there was no way that their drive could have gone wrong. They were proved right when the SS Ascension re-appeared in 2104, appearing near Neptune, bringing news of the five planets that it had explored in the meantime. Despite taking nearly a year to reach the nearest Solar System to Sol, the Ascension had fulfilled its mission and had made contact with an extraterrestrial planet.

Despite Humans having full awareness and knowledge of aliens and even having contacted aliens in the past this came as somewhat of a revelation for most of Humanity. They realised that they were now in the playing field, no longer a passenger to the events that took place in the Galaxy but they were in fact a player in the game - a game which they would soon learn to master.