The story behind the name begins on board a small vessel of the remaining Sirius fleet, the Horizon. The Horizon was a small transport ship used by the Sirius fleet for reconesense runs. At that time the remains of the sirius fleet with numerous refugees on board ran away from the advancing forces of the UTN who crashed the Sirius rebellion and took the Sirius system under their control. Now with no home left the Sirius refugees became nomads again. Supplies were running short quite often, refilling where they can from salvage materials and nebular gas the fleet was able to keep going however without a long term place to land at the fleet was doomed to starvation. In search of suitable locations as well as resources the Sirius fleet sent out small ships like the Horizon to scout the area around the fleet.
The Horizon was passing through hyperspace, the stars blazed past the ship through the thick luminators and the ship quietly approached the exit point of N-369, a star system that apperantly sat beyond the hyperspace portal. Of course it was all purely theoretical assumptions as nobody really knew what lay beyond the hyperspace routes they took, no human has ever gone so far away from Sol. Captain Salus Morring was carefully watching through the front illuminator as the ship prepared to exit hyperspace. The exploration of unknown jump routes is always a dangerous task, you might end up at N-369, you might end up INSIDE N-369 or worse ... Usually such explorations revolve around careful calculations and unmanned probes but the fleet ran out of time and out of probes a long time ago, ever since the fleet was sending manned scout ships through the portals before moving in the fleet through them. To this day most scouts survived but there were numerous close calls in the past few weeks.
"we are approaching N-369" reported the navigator and in a moment's notice the Horizon was past the jump node in the open space. The captain's worry was not for nothing, the open portal revealed a large asteroid field just outside the node, "Brace for maneuvers !".
The ship broke hard left and went past a large asteroid, suddenly the ship shaked as a hollow impact sound echoed throughout the rusty metal deck.
"We've hit something !" reported one of the men of on the bridge as the ship slowed down and finally killed all its forward momentum.
"damage report" ordered the captain and the bridge began to look through the screens for any abnormal readings or holes that might have appeared in the rusty bridge plating.
"All systems green we are fully intact".
"Well, here goes another jump, plug me through navNet" said the captain and sat back down onto his chair before the main info screen. Suddenly a familiar face appeared on the screen. "All ships report in" said Admiral Louren, he was the supreme commander of the sirius fleet. One by one the screen began to fill in with faces and reports.
"Athena reporting in",
"Atrius reporting",
"Becrus is up",
"Caldora",
"Deadalus",
"Defiant" ...
The screen kept filling with captains and their ships, one after another. "Horizon reporting in" said captain Salus when his turn came in.
"Indestructible reporting" ...
"All fleet intact and ready" finally concluded the vice admiral .
"We had a rough start but from here on we should have a smooth sail to N-369 B." said the admiral "All ships proceed to the designated checkpoint, Sirius command out".
The fleet regrouped in orbit of the second planet in the system, N-369 B. The planet showed promise initially however when the ships approached the planet all they saw was a dark brown surface burnt out by the sun's intense radiation. As the nav team feared , N-369 was emitting powerful ultraviolet radiation which made life on the surface of the planet impossible, moreover upon closer examination of the surface the planet proved to have no resource value whatsoever, the journey was in vain. the Horizon docked in with the rest of the fleet. During regroups the ships were all docking together in what resembled a giant chain, each ship using the two docking bays on each side, linking each other to the mothership that drifted not that far away. The Horizon assumed its usual spot and docked in with the fleet. The airlocks opened and the "neighbours next-door" could finally roam freely across the ships and the fleet. Most people who left their ships usually went to the mothership, a big vessel constructed during the days of the rebellion initially as a big dreadnaught , the first terran dreadnaught, but installation of weapons and many systems was never completed and so the ship was retrofitted to become a self sustained mother ship that could also tend to its fleet.
Captain Salus went to the mothership as well, he went to the captain meeting where the next move of the fleet was discussed.
"Alright gentlemen lets get straight to point." began Admiral Louren "In the past few months we weren't able to find any substantial resources in our jumps, our supplies are getting low and we believe that at the current rate we will be able to survive for no more than 3 weeks, hence we must act with haste and without mistakes, there is NO room for error now. One of our biggest concerns is also the low fuel supply, as you know in the past few attempts we came up with nothing, our estimate is that on average our ships have fuel for no more than 4 jumps and so finding fuel is our top priority. We will deploy scouting ships to a few suitable locations that might contain resources, due to the low fuel reserve we will not move out fleet from N-369 B until we find our next destination. I will now announce the list of scouting ships and their destinations."
The admiral began to read a list of names and coordinates, "Horizon your co-ordinates are A864 D394 G012". Captain Salus wrote down the coordinates with extreme caution, one mistake in those and they might never come back.
The briefing was complete and the captains returned to their ships. Captain Salus entered the bridge and the ship undocked out of the formation. Soon after navigation prepared the set of coordinates and the ship was ready to jump.
"At those coordinates we expect to find a small nebula cloud that could be used to produce fuel" said the captain as he sat down in his seat "All hands prepare for jump".
The deck began to shake as the ship began to accelerate and in a moment's notice the ship entered the hyperspace portal. Some time has passed and the ship prepared for leaving hyperspace. The captain stood nervously in front of the illuminator waiting for the ship to reach the other side.
"we are jumping out in 3, 2 ,1 ..."
The ship flew out of the hyperspace portal and the captain nervously looked out of the window. There was no nebula ahead, what he saw was a big planet whose color alternated between dark blue and dark green in different spots. The planet completely covered the sun.
"Are we at the right co-ords ?" asked the captain.
Navigation investigated and answered "Confirmed, these are the given coordinates".
"Alright, lets conduct a scan then" said the captain.
"Whats about the planet ?"
"We don't have the probes to examine it so we cant do anything on that front, report in in two hours."
In two hours the crew returned with a full scan report, there was nothing of value found in the vicinity, it seems like those co-ords were a waste too.
"How much fuel do we have left ?"
"Enough for 3 jumps captain"
"Alright its getting tight, let's head home people, jump back to mothership"
Navigation entered the fleet co-ordinates and the ship prepared for jump "Entering hyperspace in 3, 2, 1..."
the ship entered hyperspace and captain Salus sat down in his chair. some time has passed and the ship was ready to leave hyperspace. The captain stood up in front of the illuminator as usual, although he wasn't to nervous knowing where those coordinates lead to he still was on the ready just in case.
"Exiting hyperspace in 3, 2, 1 ..."
The ship left hyperspace revealing the view outside. To his surprise captain Salus watched at the blue-green surface on the planet they orbited before.
"What the hell is going on here ? Nav give me a report".
Navigation checked the coordinates and recalculated them again and again, and after 10 minutes of investigation navigation reported "Yes we arrived at the given coordinates"
"Plug me through navNet" he said and sat down at the screen.
"Horizon to Sirius, Horizon to Sirius do you copy ?"
NavNet was silent.
"Horizon to Sirius do you copy ? Great ..."
Captain Salus looked outside at the surface of the planet "This is bad, we got enough fuel for two more jumps ..."
"What are the orders captain ?"
"Navigation is there another way to reach the mothership ?"
"Yes there is a way, we can re-plot our jump course in two sequential jumps to circumvent the planet and then jump from the new coordinates to the location of the fleet"
"Better than sitting here waiting for our deaths, plot the jump course and make sure there are NO mistakes"
For the next 5 hours the navigation team sat down , first with a computer than fully by hand, recalculating the best jump route to return to the fleet. Finally they handed the captain a list of paper with co-ordinates written on it.
"We have calculated the optimal jump route and we're ready to jump"
the captain looked at the coordinates and asked "Are you sure these are the right coordinates ?"
"We did all we could, we have manually calculated this route a few times over, this is the best as it gets"
"Alright I trust you people, lets do it"
This time around captain Salus entered the coordinates himself, taking a deep breath he hit the engines on full and the ship entered the hyperspace portal. The captain was standing nervous in front of the illuminator, nervously waiting for the ship to leave hyperspace.
"Leaving corridor in 3, 2, 1..."
The ship left hyperspace opening up the view to outside. To his horror Salus was looking down on the surface of a green-blue planet , now bigger than ever as the ship was entering low planetary orbit.
"Check the coordinates !" he ordered.
Navigation frantically ran around collecting data and calculating things, finally after 20 minutes of checking navigation finally concluded "Captain we are at the right coordinates"
The captain looked at the surface of the cursed planet again. The whole crew assembled on the bridge waiting for the captain to tell what to do. the captain was deeply in thought, silence filled the bridge. Finally he turned around and asked "Any thoughts ?".
The crew looked around in a loss, unable to think up of anything.
"There is one last possible solution, we can try to jump as far as we can from the planet and then attempt to contact the fleet from there, waiting for pickup. If the planet is somehow interfering with our jumps by jumping as far as we can we are likely to escape from its effect" said the head of the Nav team.
"Any other thoughts ?"
The crew went silent again.
"If so lets try this, all crew return to your stations"
After a few more hours of careful calculation the Nav team finally handed a small piece of paper with the last coordinates written on them.
"we are putting all we got into this last jump, if we don't make it we will be cut off from our fleet and its very likely we will die." said the captain "But if we stay here we will die for sure, prepare for jump !"
The ship accelerated again and on the last bits of fuel entered hyperspace. The whole crew was standing in front of the front illuminator with the captain, waiting for the ship to leave hyperspace.
"we are leaving hyperspace in 3, 2, 1..."
The ship exited hyperspace and the front illuminator was filled with the surface of the blue green planet, closing in an alarming rate.
"We are on impact course with the planet !"
"Everyone to stations ! Get the engines running full, shut down all non vitals , full power to the engine's ! FULL POWER TO THE ENGINES !" roared the captain across the bridge where people frantically did all they could to stabilize the falling ship. The ship broke hard trying to raise the nose and slow down the fall. The whole ship was shaking as the flames covered the view outside, the ship was rapidly falling through the atmosphere. The captain pulled the ship even harder , it began to slow down but the ground was still closing, 15 km, 14 km, 13 , the numbers began to run slower and slower, finally the nose stabilized and the ship entered a horizontal position.
"seems like we are safe" said one of the crew. Suddenly the bridge flashed red and the nose began to fall again.
"Whats going on ?!" shouted the captain.
"We're out of fuel !" responded one of the crew.
" Pull it up ! PULL IT UP !" he shouted trying to slow down the fall in all ways he could.
the ship was slowly falling to the ground, he could see it from the illuminators closing in, it was too late to do anything, in a terrifying roar the ship crashed into the ground and Salus was flung into the air.
The captain stood up, the bridge was fully driven into the ground and the hull was breached in numerous places. The air was probably leaking out right now, they will now all suffocate to death, its the end ... Yet suddenly the captain noticed something.
" I ... I can breathe !" he said.
The crew began to raise up from the ground, there were numerous injured across the bridge and the rest of the ship, the captain quickly ordered to collect all the injured in the cargo bay. He looked outside at the planet from the holes in the bridge. Night covered up the planet, but in the distance he could recognize something, the blue color he saw from orbit, was actually trees ! There was some sort of life on this planet, meaning it was possible to live on it, they might have found a new home for the fleet ! But the true problem was how to inform them.
The crew joined up the captain on the roof of the broken ship, looking at the new alien world they discovered.
"Sir what do we do now ?"
"Is the NavNet still broken ?"
The crewman pointed at the broken remains of a screen.
"Alright, try to plug in the radio, perhaps we gonna find some alien music stations !" he said with a smile, perhaps he won't be able to contact the fleet but he was alive.
The radios on board the ship were part of the outdated comm equipment used on early terran ship designs. Those were unable to transmit or pick information at a long distance and the signal came in with a delay. One of the crew plugged in the radio, and thats what they heard on the other side:
"Karoline to Sirius we are ready to dock, waiting for permission, over"
"This is Hindos to scout group we arrive at 21 36, waiting for regroup" ...
The radio was picking up the navNet of the fleet , and by the delay they weren't that far !
Captain Salus jumped onto the transmitter as if it was about to run away.
"Horizon to Sirius Horizon to Sirius can you hear me ?"
"Sirius to Horizon we pick you, your IFF and systems are offline, we cannot pin your location"
"This is Horizon we suffered a crash landing onto an unknown planet, this planet has a breathable atmosphere and life on its surface"
Sirius went silent for a moment. " Roger ... roger Horizon ! Please activate your distress signal so that we can locate you"
One of the crewmen ran to the back of the ship and turned on the signal that began to pulse and blink.
"We pick you Horizon standby we will deploy a rescue party"
suddenly Sirius went silent again.
"Your information doesn't match with our data, Horizon are you sure this planet has breathable air ?"
"Horizon to sirius I have hull breaches in 50 different spots, my bridge is a bunch of bent metal, Im pretty sure there is air on this planet"
"Sirius to Horizon that's impossible you are on the surface on N-369 B, I repeat you are on the surface on N-369 B."
"N-369 B ? I'll be damn its the planet the fleet orbits !"
"This is Diatar to Horizon we see you we are ready to pick you up, Diatar to Sirius we can confirm N-369 has breathable air I repeat - N-369 B has breathable air !"
The crew assembled on top of the Horizon, carrying the ingured to the surface for transfer to the Diatar, a scout ship similar to the Horizon.
"So captain one hell of a recon ride" said the head navman.
"Yeah, I retire after that one" answered the captain.
"And what you gonna name it ?"
"name what ?"
"The planet, you were the first to discover it, the first to land on it, its up to you to give it a name."
"A name huh ? No matter how hard we tried all ways lead to it and yet the devil turned out to be a planet worthy to challenge earth, to become the new heart of the world, a new Rome, NeoRome."
As it would later turn out it was the fault of the Sirius survey team that in its laziness or perhaps desperation checked only the bright surface of the planet, incinerated by the heavy radiation from the planet, never checking the back of the planet that was protected from the sun rays. And the roads that lead to rome ? They were the rock that hit the external nav system without the crew noticing ...
) and afterwards I had to look something up for mah father ... bottom line I dont have an answer today either 
, tomorrow for suuuuuuuuuure ! hehe
