Project Ark

Project Ark was a special, super secret mission, originally created an envisioned by then Grand Admiral Mike Clayton, after the events of The Battle of the Oort Perimeter as a way to protect humanity from complete obliteration and extinction in a universe that was growing increasingly hostile towards Sol Space and all of humankind, and in some cases seeking its total destruction. The plan itself was simple. Setup secret colonies elsewhere in the galaxy where humans could hide and avoid detection and discovery by their enemies.

This eventually extended to colonies outside of our own Milky Way galaxy, going as far as Pegasus, Sagittarius, Ursa Major, and others. Each colony, colloquially known as an "Ark", consisted of one Mars like colony of up to 1 million humans, some from the Society, and some from Earth (Inductees) was seeded across as many as 26 different Arks, across 9 total galaxies, the Milky Way being one of them. Contact between the colonies was limited due to the total forbidding of hyperband and subspace communications outside of the immediate area of the colony to ensure that none of them were detected.

Interaction between the colonies was limited to occasional visits by special ships and their crews, the only ones who knew where the other colonies existed, which brought in either new members for each colony, or communications, instructions, etc. Out of everyone in Sol Space, only 5 people total, including Mike Clayton, knew of the project in its entirety. What few outside of this core group that knew of the other colonies, and only a handful of those at that, believed them to be small research outposts, and not the full blow colonies they truly were.

After the threats against Earth abated, and Sol was once again safe, it was determined that the project should continue, even though there was some push back from within the SIC to end it, and bring it out into the light, as it was no longer needed. The Marargon Invasion once more threw a fire under this project, causing its expansion into another 14 more colonies across still 3 more galaxies, bringing the total to 40 total arks. Eventually, over time, the project ceased operations, with the colonies being spun out on their own to continue Earth's legacy wherever they had been planted.

Some colonies, those in the Milky Way galaxy, were eventually brought out of hiding revealed to the galaxy, who were eventually recognized by the ASW as established human colonies, and thus allowed to continue on in their existence openly as independent members of the wider galaxy. This did much to solidify Earth's place in the galaxy, and their future posterity for many, many eons to come.