Bright lights and a blaring klaxon. It is time. I am reanimated from my centuries-long cryosleep. The objective is near. I perform a mandatory self-examination using the med scan embedded in my cryotube. A low electronic buzz fills the air for several seconds as countless sensors and scanners confirm my health and wellness.

*Ding*

EXAMINATION COMPLETE: ALL BODILY FUNCTIONS ARE NOMINAL

The robotic voice coincides with an image projected onto the window in front of me, allowing me to view my assessment.

"Mhm... Yup... seems about right." I mumble to myself, the image of myself shows a very detailed reconstruction of every part of me, even the scar over my far left eye I got countless galactic cycles ago is shown. Included is the option to look through the layers to view the status of not only my exterior but my circulatory, nervous, digestive, skeletal, and muscular systems. Each layer showing a very helpful breakdown of relevant information.

I decided to check my status anyway, despite the computer reassuring me that I am in acceptable health.

This is my first long haul mission after all. I'm excited to see if my body fared the same in cryo compared to my normal missions.

Luckily everything seems to be about the same as a shorter interval cryo, just some standard minor atrophy of my muscles and bones. This is of course thanks to my body being preserved in such a way that almost perfectly freezes my body in the state I was in before boarding the Carrier. Without cryo, every crew and passenger of this ship would have perished after just a few cycles of reduced gravity.

That's not even considering the fact that despite our incredibly prolonged lifespans, a cross-galactic voyage like this would turn even our youngest members into nothing but a pile of dust.

An amazing technology indeed.

__________________________________________________________________________________

I exit my tube and prepare for the mission briefing later.

The room is quite small, it consists of the cryotube embedded into the dark metal wall directly across from the exit. The entire room is only the width of the tube and the door, as well as only being long enough to exit the tube and remove the equipment and clothing issued to me to put on.

Most of the crew on this ship do not have this luxurious of a station. I am granted extra privileges by being a member of the research team. We have our own sector of the ship where we have all of the labs and equipment necessary when making first contact as well as further research.

I only know a few details about the mission and our objective, the bare-bones basically. All I know is that there is a new race that has made it past infancy and becoming an interstellar civilization. Our task is to make contact and learn about them. Judging to see if they are worthy of joining the Galactic Union, and if necessary... eliminate them if they are not deemed so.

We have no information about them besides the fact that they have only begun becoming interstellar a few thousand cycles ago and the location of their home system: about 27,000 light cycles from our galactic core.