The year is 3041 AD... Humanity has proliferated across the stars and founded multiple colonies. Despite this immense progress, a long, dark history is continued with more war and bloodshed... At the turn of the millennium, tensions between the two major factions of the human race can no longer be tempered and the Fed-Com war erupts. Hundreds of billions die, and many colonies are caught in the carnage. Despite this, there are efforts to reconcile with goodwill gestures from both sides and despite the simmering tensions, life continues. Colonists rebuild while industrialists count their earnings from feeding the war machine on both sides. Yet, sinister forces conspire to plunge the human race into another bloody chapter of its history. A leading figure in the Federated Terran Alliance Military is assassinated in the year 3041 AD, the assassin disappears into space, not heard from again...
Until now.
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2038: the United States of America announces Project Artemis, a series of manned missions to the outer solar system. With a timetable of 3 consecutive launches in the early 2060s. The missions are expected to last 18 years. //
2043: the rocket for the Artemis missions is designed and built by launch and rocket contractor SpaceX. //
2055: NASA Selects their pool of Artemis crew members for the Artemis 1, 2, and 3 missions. //
2059: Artemis 1’s crew is briefed on their mission to the outer solar system to the Jovian moon Ganymede on an 18-year mission to explore and map the geology and tidal conditions of the moon. //
2060: NASA makes the first manned mission to the outer solar system, landing astronauts on Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons for an 18-year mission to the outer solar system to study the surface of the solar system’s most massive moon. //
2061: NASA Launches a second crewed mission to Titan as a part of its outer solar system exploration program. Objectives range in scope from sampling the hydrocarbon pools on the surface, mapping geological ore deposits with ultrasound scanning, and creating maps for potential mineral extraction sites. //
2062: Artemis 3 is delayed by technical issues with the Hydrogen fuel cells aboard the landing craft. These issues cause a cancellation of the launch late in the year. The launch is rescheduled for the middle of 2063. //
2063: The third Project Artemis launch occurs, bound for Jupiter’s moon Europa to study the moon’s ice layers and survey the composition and formations of both ammonia and water ice. Among the cargo aboard is a roving laser boring platform. //
2066: the European Space Agency launches a new manned mission to the moon, set to launch by 2085 with assistance from NASA for operational expertise, SpaceX is contracted to build the new Eagle-10 re-useable launch vehicle, and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will support systems integrations and flight computer programming. //
2070: Apophis 1, a NASA unmanned mission, fails as the Space-X Eagle-10 rocket breaks up in the atmosphere. After an investigation, the findings point to friction from a loose stage ring joint causing a wire to lose its protective sleeve. The resulting electrical arc caused a leak of liquid fuel in a faulty gasket to ignite. Several engineering fixes are included in the Eagle-10 rocket to prevent such another occurrence. //
2078: The Astronauts on the Artemis-1 mission make re-entry in late March at early morning light over the North American great plains. The parachutes deploy at 07:23 and splashdown occurs in the Pacific Ocean 73 kilometers west-north-west of San Francisco at 07:31 - the crew are recovered along with their return capsule by USS Enterprise (CVN-81). Artemis 2 and 3 follow months after and all recoveries are successful. //
2079: After a delay caused by the Apophis 1 mission catastrophe, Space-X delivers a third Eagle-10 launch vehicle to the ESA along with the lunar mission package. A Lunar lander is scheduled to be completed the following year as a two-part spacecraft instead of two separate vehicles as with NASA’s Apollo program in the previous century. //
2080: NASA Launches Apophis 2 atop an Eagle-10 rocket, Starting an unmanned mission to Callisto to establish an observatory on the Jovian moon with plans to crew the observatory long-term at a later date. //
2081: Open interest by several mining consortiums in Titan’s vast mineral and hydrocarbon wealth are expressed to the nations of earth. Debate sparks in the United Nations over how the handling of mineral rights in space. The debate will rage for years to come.
2082: NASA establishes a permanent observatory on Callisto, dubbed 'Aqua Observatory' after the fields of water ice the base resides on. //
2085: the ESA successfully launches and recovers a manned mission to the moon with the Misyat-1 mission, launched from a site in southwestern Ukraine. //
2089: Zetter & Metz, a German-American weapons manufacturer, was founded in Roanoke, Virginia by Hans Ulrich Zetter and Herbert Von Maeltz. The company will produce mainly small arms and several experimental weapon designs. It is not until the 2300s that they make a breakthrough in experimental weapons technology. //
2090-2095: NASA and JAXA successfully send a crewed mission to Callisto to crew Aqua Observatory aboard the Apophis-5 mission. This is the last of the Apophis missions. //
2098: Telescopes on Callisto’s Aqua Observatory spot a deep-space object via infrared spectrometry heading for the inner solar system. The first time in over a century that Sol has been visited by an extra-solar object since Oumuamua in 2017 earlier in the 21st century. Scientists designate it ‘Ehulia’ - Derived from the Hawaiian word for ‘Traveler’. Radiospectrometry and X-ray analysis suggest a ferrous composition of iron and magnesite-rich rocks. Estimating Ehulia will be one of the largest near-earth objects in the year 2101.
2101: The Ehulia asteroid’s near-miss of Earth’s atmosphere causes a localized geomagnetic storm at the north pole, which causes a shift in the Earth's magnetic poles and the world experiences the third ice age as Europe, Canada, Russia, Northern China, and Much of northern Japan freeze over. Glaciers slowly creep south, and the otherwise arable farmland becomes unusable. Many Europeans resettled in the United States, Africa, and Mexico to escape the advancing ice. //
2103: NASA Announces ‘Slingshot’ - A program to create an orbital launch station for crewed and uncrewed missions to the outer solar system. SpaceX will provide launch vehicles to deliver several module nodes to orbit for assembly of the launch station over the next 15 years.//
2104: The United Nations draft resolution S20. ‘The role of international law in the exploration and exploitation of extra-terrestrial natural resources’ In which there are concessions made for zoning based on the Artemis-2 surveys to the 10 largest mineral extraction and processing companies in the world. With SpaceX becoming the main contractor for launch vehicles. NASA’s mission support apparatuses and expertise are leveraged for missions to Titan. //
2105: Europe enters a major famine as the last arable farmland in Europe freezes over into permafrost. //
2109: the European Union and all member states declare itself a military-economic alliance, creating a superstate. //
2110: JAXA, NASA, ESA, and others all announce interstellar colonization programs. efforts continue through to the 2300s. //
2114: the EU declares war on Egypt, Jordan, and Libya to take land to use for arable farmland in the wake of the permafrost covering much of the European continent. //
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2116: JAXA establishes a temporary research colony on Mars. //
2117: NASA and DARPA make a joint statement that announces a research and development program for an FTL drive codenamed 'Helios' is nearing completion. //
2118: Slingshot station is completed. //
2120: NASA, following the lead of a JAXA initiative, establishes a permanent colony on Mars in a series of missions dubbed the Ares missions. Ares-1 is launched via Slingshot station in the same year and through a series of slingshots around Venus, achieved a record speed of 943,385 km/h. Becoming the fastest crewed mission to a stellar body. Arriving at Venus 6 days after launch. Proving that Slingshot station works and is viable for cheap manned solar system exploration. //
2124: the EU uses nuclear weapons on Cairo while also condemning Egyptian reprisal attacks using biological weapons, African Union states declare war on the EU, fearing that European expansion will threaten their sovereignty - the United Nations convenes for an emergency session in response to the crisis. //
2129: Zetter and Metz corporation begin work on relativistic kinetic weapons, making progress but realizing they need years of technological advancement for a viable weapon. //
2147: Northrop-Grumman and Boeing merge into the world's first megacorporation, forming the United Aerospace Corporation (UNIAERO). //
2175: UNIAERO announces the flight of the first prototype unmanned ship with a faster-than-light (FTL) drive, dubbed ‘Hermes’. The mission uses technology developed jointly with NASA and DARPA from 2110 to 2135. The ship makes a trip from Earth to Ganymede and back on a supply run for a team of researchers posted at the Ganymede Aqua Observatory base. Making the round trip in a record 15 hours. Hermes becomes the basis for rapid resupply of human colonies on Mars and observatories and bases in the outer solar system. //
2209: UNIAERO announces nearing completion of a new type of fusion reactor, dubbed 'Phizon fusion' internally by UNIAERO engineers and researchers. Utilizing a newly found particle in Quantum physics, which is fused to form short-lived, very high energy Mesons that decay at a rate over twenty-five million times higher than that of the half-life of some of the shortest-lived nuclear isotopes in current fission reactors. //
2212: a second UNIAERO Phizon reactor breaks a record previously set with a Tokamak reactor, creating over 1 Terawatt (1TW) of combined energy output.
2302: The ice shelves begin to recede. The glaciers advanced as far as the northernmost shores of Lake Superior in North America and froze the North sea. Much of the arable land in Europe is reduced to mud bogs as the ground thaws out. //
2305: African Union forces invade Sicily. the United States steps in to broker peace talks. //
2335: The world unites under the United Nations in light of advancements in interstellar travel technologies. For the first time, Humanity is all under one banner. the Terran Federation is born. //
2349: Zetter and Metz announce the first successful test of a practical relativistic velocity rail gun - achieving a maximum velocity of roughly 3 million meters per second, or 1 percent of the speed of light using new advances in electromagnetics and materials science. //
2388: A 4th arms race is well underway in the wake of the Zetter and Metz development in 2349, Zetter and Metz announce further development of the Magneto Plasmadynamic engine. A type of engine for star ships that uses electromagnets to propel plasma exhaust at several thousand kilometers per second. //
2392: Zetter and Metz partner with UNIAERO to create a new type of starship engine, dubbed the 'Phizon Engine' which utilizes a turbine and a series of electromagnetic coils to fuse Phizon plasma and push it through the turbines and an exhaust nozzle for use as a thruster. //
2401: The nations of Earth make first contact with the Azari, and talks break down. War is declared. //
2435: the Azari home world is bombarded with nuclear weapons by a large human armada, ending the Azari-Terran war. //
2500: Humanity makes contact with the Altherians - Trade begins with the first friendly extraterrestrials humanity has encountered after a tense diplomatic meeting. //
2532: Humanity makes first contact with the Iridians and Gravidans. //
2568: The Gravidans destroy a human habitat station orbiting Alpha-Majoris III in a botched covert operation, sparking a diplomatic incident. Tensions between humanity and the Gravidans reach an all-time high. //
2572: After several political crises and Gravidan attacks on human colonies, The Systems Commonwealth forms and declares independence from the Terran Federation, made up of a conglomeration of a few hundred Terran Federation colonies. //
2598: After a series of border skirmishes and incidents, the Systems Commonwealth fleets enter Gravidan space. Strike fighters from newly-built fleet carriers attack Gravidan shipyards orbiting Gamma-Minor. The Gravidan Empire declares war on the Systems Commonwealth. //
2625: Gravidan-Commonwealth war ends in Human victory. Gravidan forces withdraw from the borders and Commonwealth military assets stand down. //
2626: The Systems Commonwealth consolidates gains from the Gravidan-Commonwealth war until the early 2700s. //
2701: Iridian and Commonwealth diplomats enter talks for greater cooperation in technology sharing and economic opportunity. //
2715: Iridian diplomats are killed in a bomb attack by Gravidan terrorists. The 'Shield of Gamma-Major' take responsibility. //
2755: Farsa is born on Eridan-III //
2800: the Altherians are invited to the Iridian-Commonwealth Alliance//
2801: the Altherians integrate into the Iridian-Commonwealth alliance. Forming the ICAA (Iridian-Commonwealth-Altherian Alliance). //
2865: ICAA intervenes in a Gravidan colonial crisis. Gravidans tersely allow the intervention in exchange for exclusive economic zones in the border regions between ICAA and the Gravidan empire. //
2872: on Earth, Riots break out as an extreme famine hits Sol for the second time in under 800 years. //
2878: Kara is born on Solaris-III to a Japanese-American refugee couple. //
2883: the Terran Federation suffers a regime change after a violent revolt against the government of Earth. The new interim government deems the Systems Commonwealth 'traitors of the human species' in a statement by their chief diplomat. //
2898: In light of the Terran Federation's numerical superiority, Systems Commonwealth bio-scientists create the Chimera program for the Systems Commonwealth military to create a force multiplier to close the troop count gap by using technology. //
2900: Tensions between the Commonwealth and Terran Federation peak and war breaks out. reasons largely unknown, but it is believed the Terran Federation was seeking to re-integrate the Systems Commonwealth into Earth's sphere of influence. //
2901: A major Terran Federation offensive sees the ground invasion and capture of hundreds of worlds in Commonwealth territory. //
2905: Commonwealth forces push Federation forces back to pre-war lines, and start drawing up plans to invade Federation space using new weapons and technologies. //
2913: The first battle of Alpha Centauri takes place. Marking the first use of genetically augmented humans, colloquially known as Chimeras, in wartime by the Systems Commonwealth. they quickly gain a fearsome and often sinister reputation as brutally effective soldiers and saboteurs. //
2927: Stalemate broken by Systems Commonwealth, several major industrial worlds recaptured as Commonwealth forces close in on Terran Federation core territories. //
2965: the first successful test of a Quantum Pulse weapon occurs on an uninhabited system in Systems Commonwealth space. test results exceed expectations. //
2979: Alpha-Cancerous is destroyed by the first wartime use of a Quantum Pulse weapon. following two more uses of Quantum Pulse weapons, the Federation comes to the negotiation table for an end to the fighting. //
2980: An official end to the war is signed, and the Treaty of Sirus goes into effect immediately. which bans the use of Weapons of Devastation, heavily regulates the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction by standing militaries, and rolls back the borders of Federation and Commonwealth space to pre-war lines. //
3000: Zetter and Metz announce the development of a prototype stealth destroyer for the Systems Commonwealth. //
3010: Kara leaves Commonwealth space for the wider galaxy. //
3039: General Moldsyava embarks on a 2-year tour of the Systems Commonwealth and Terran Federation. visiting multiple war memorials with plans to make a keynote speech on Earth at the end of the tour in 3041. //
3041: Moldsyava arrives on Earth to tour several war memorials and cemeteries before preparing a speech. Kara, a rather ubiquitous mercenary, arrives on Earth. General Moldsyava is assassinated by a lone sniper while on Earth, the identity of the shooter is withheld from the public. //