The Great Silence

The Milky Way is silent.

Every civilization that reaches the pinnacle of technology vanishes without a sound at some point. Humanity calls it the "Great Silence."

In 2220, humanity's first colony ship set course for Proxima Centauri. That same night, a deep-space listening station detected a repeating signal from a long-dead planet four light-years away.

A civilization had once lived there. Before going extinct, they uploaded everything to an orbital satellite and broadcast into the void for over two thousand years.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the Milky Way, a military regime was assembling its fleet. One word kept recurring in its communications: Gliese.

Humanity thought it was conquering the stars, until a line buried deep in the archives was decoded:

"We once existed. Please remember us. And remember, you too will face a choice."

The Great Silence is drawing closer to humanity.