The Exodus Voyage

"Some of the finest men and women of our nations will be sent on this, our first steps out of the reaches of our galaxy. Though they will each and every one be sorely missed, it is important to put our best foot forward as we explore further into the existence we have been set in, and with luck, discover once again that our kinds are not alone in the universe."

- Speech given just before the UNSC Exodus began its maiden voyage.

By the turn of the century, most conflicts between the Milky Way Galaxy's species and their empires had ended or ceased temporarily, and once again humanity looked to the stars, and much farther this time. With the help of their allies, the Sangheili and the Huragok, research into new spacefaring technologies grew by leaps and bounds. Research into the Slipspace fields pioneered by Tobias Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa was especially focused on, being given much funding by military, federal, and civilian sources.

Concurrently, much speculation was being made as to the Flood as extra-galactic, and with the appearence of other possible threats was taken more seriously. The Office of Naval Intelligence had access to enough classified Forerunner data and that of other sources to form the first plausible hypotheses, and became interested in the idea of trans-galactic travel. The end result of their debates was the collaberation of a large number of Human scientists, Sangheili experts on Forerunner technology, and elder Huragok individuals to come up with a more powerful slipspace drive.

Using the expertise of Misriah Armories' engineers, the end result was a single ship, the UNSC Exodus, labelled an Exodus-Class SuperCarrier, the first ship of either Human or Covenant-type design capable of leaving the Milky Way. Almost immediately after the announcement of its completion, the UNSC began to look for people to crew the vessel.

It would take a painstakingly long process of screening to identify enough people to staff the ship, but in 26## the Exodus was at last ready for her maiden voyage. Much ceremony surrounded the event, leaving Harvest as a symbolical starting point for both the Human-Covenant War and the united first steps beyond. Their destination, taking 77 years during which most of the crew was placed in cryogenic suspended animation, was the Andromeda Galaxy.