Or maybe they had technology similar to the Traveler's that could change The oncoming darkness to light. Something similar in technology to the Gift Mast of old. The story would go something like this: Colonists traveling from Earth had received sudden communique from Earth command, sent by the Warmind, Rasputin himself. The contents declared the identification of an incoming intersolar threat classified YUGA. The communique provided a rendezvous point in geosynchronous orbit around Jupiter near Europa. Intersolar threat confirmed YUGA, has vulnerabilities to Traveler/paracausal presence. RPTN suggests combining ships in trans solar groups A through F into cohesive defense force around Ship (capital class) Promise and usage of said ship's lightdrive/paracausal field to be extended and to envelope trans solar groups A through F in theoretical paracausal, Venka-Dalios light shield to fortify against oncoming threat YUGA. (I'm running short on time, so I'll make it quick!) Basically, with the oncoming darkness begins the annihilation of the colony ships and fleet, but there is a chance at stopping it using the flagship Promise's drive system based of of the Traveler. To overload the drive and destroy the darkness leaving many ships destroyed and damage, but with the possibility of many of the colonists and Earth being spared from death. So with the darkness on full attack, the drive is fired before the ships make it to the rendezvous point. Nine of the command crew had received an instruct from an unknown Warmind, that the drive could be enhanced to channel the massive energies of the attacking darkness through the drive and destroy the threat in a massive blast of energy. The only catch was for those nine people to be inside the drive system when it was overloaded. Having no choice nine of the drive engineers bravely went into the drive. During the overload their bodies where suffused with light energies, forming living cathodes to the drive's anode. The darkness was pulled into the reaction and the energies were funneled and built up until a singularity was formed. Just as quickly as it had formed the singularity collapsed and the result was an explosion that wiped the darkness from around the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and destroying everything, but the core and remnant of the darkness still around Pluto. The Traveler retreated to protect Earth from the blast shielding much of the planet, but the darkness was not finished and within a week's time the core remnant of the darkness had arrived. A dark mockery of the Traveler that in its rage attacked full force, ignoring the millions of survivors of the blast in the the asteroid belt; going directly for its main prize that it had pursued across the eons. Thus began the collapse and the showdown between the two powers on a small blue-green planet called Earth. Tl;dr... creation of Awoken from the colony ship survivors, the Reef from the wreckage, and the Nine who became immortal cosmic beings (in return for a debt to a certain Warmind dubbed, "AMKR"). Thanks for reading, Guardians!