Status: This story is a "first draft" and will be removed upon completion to publish, so any helpful critique is gladly accepted!
Semper Ad Meliora
CON-001 TO VITA EST
To the Captains; to the Crew; to the Civilians of Vita Est:
I apologize, first and foremost, on behalf of the Sentinel crew as we disobeyed specific orders at my command in leaving the captains and controlling crew asleep in a time of emergency. At 18:30 on September 9th, 2248, the engines malfunctioned, shutting down for the duration of exactly two minutes. After this, starboard thrusters two, four, and six fired at maximum, turning Vita Est twenty degrees off course before all thrusters began firing again. Since that time, each engine and thruster have been unresponsive to commands.
No Sentinel was able to fix the problem when we were certain the knowledge we have paired with the information we were given should have remedied the issue. We have worked non-stop in the years since. We have worked in circles. We have come to the conclusion that human engineers and human brains may only be who and what can solve the issue. We simply cannot think like a human, collectively or individually.
Dum vita est, spes est. May you find your way to Xiwang. Semper ad meliora.
NOTE: If you read this story prior to 9/20/2016, chapters 1-3 have been updated and changed to replace a character.