The first exploratory missions with the high-speed drive naturally went to the closest star system to the Sun, the Alpha Centauri system.  There was much hope in this trip since Alpha Centauri A is a G2V star, like the Sun.  There was great hope that this star would have a planet like Earth that would be easily colonizable.  However, Alpha Cen A turned out to only have a single, small, rocky planet (almost Mercury-like, but not as hot) and a couple gas giants.  Alpha Cen B, on the other hand, was a major find.  It's two innermost planets were in the habitable zone and Alpha Cen B I even had obvious signs of rich plant life!  All of the land mass and much of the seas of this watery, oxygen-rich world were covered with plant life.  Colony ships were sent to this world as soon as possible, full of excited, adventurous people.

One of the first ships suffered a minor collision with an asteroid on the final leg of the trip and damaged its engine.  In orbit around the star, the ship was partially repaired by the crew and limped into orbit around Alpha Cen B II.  Instead of waiting for a long time on their ailing ship for a ride to Planet I, they decided to colonize the second planet, which they named Refuge.

A year later, a scientific mission arrived and settled on Alpha Cen A I, which they called Hermes.  A human error caused the Hermes outpost to lose pressure a few months later, causing the staff to abandon the station and flee to Salerno.

Significant bodies:

• Salerno (Alpha Centauri B I) - Plant life and oxygen!  There are many CO₂ and O₂ life-forms, but no animals.  This is the first and largest extra-solar human colony.  The world is very warm, but very hospitable for humans.
• Refuge (Alpha Centauri B II) - Smaller colony, which would be one of the most significant human colonies if Salerno weren't so darn successful!