In 1969 the first Human set foot on the Moon, an American named Neil Armstrong. The greatest feat in human history to date. It was meant to be the end of the space race, it was meant to solidify American dominance over the Soviet Union. In 1973 however, the Soviets landed on Mars and the race was back on. By 1974, America had landed on Mars as well and soon it was a race to see who could get the first permanent outpost in space. Surprisingly it was the British who did it first.
Luna Britannia was the first permanent extraterrestrial settlement. With its completion in 1987 it became the first self-sustaining space ,settlement but it would not be the last. It would be joined by and later expanded to connect with other European Lunar bases like the French, German, and Italian settlements. American and Soviet bases were also established.
In 2005 the First Base on Mars is established jointly by U.S.-E.U. Space Agencies NASA and the ESA. It was named Point Hope situated at the base of Olympus Mons. Not long after the Soviets completed their own base, named Lenin's Pride on the Red Planet.
Over the next 5 decades humanity would expand its reach to Jupiter and Saturn establishing bases on their many moons. In 2031 The Space treaty was amended to ban WMDs from being used in any circumstance in space unless it was to destroy threats to planetary life such as planet-killer asteroids and comets. Included in the revised treaty was the agreement that the founding nation that established the base owned the base and the land within a 50 km radius. This meant that the cold war was now interplanetary and expanding.
While the Space race raged between the Joint Space Exploration Agency; USA, Canada, E.U., Japan, and their allied powers, and the Sino-Soviet Space Agency, China and USSR plus satellite states, the Cold war intensified. With access to the vast resources of space, more and more of them were put into the military. Soon the amount of nukes on Earth increased into the tens of thousands.
In 2053 The USS establishes the First true civilian colony on the Moon and equips it with long range interplanetary ballistic missiles. With the Colony on the Earth-facing side of the Moon it was able to hit anywhere on the planet. The North Americans didn't react well to this. Soon both sides were militerizing established colonies all over the solar system and militarizing them. By 2065 more than 30 colonies of varying ethnicities were established across Luna and Mars. While it seemed like humanity was united in the goal of expansion, what set the colonies apart from each other was the clear divides between Capitalism, Communism, Ethnicity, and Religion.
More than 150 years of Communism being in existence firmly established it as an economic policy. It proved that it could work. It proved that it wasn't going to die out. In 2071 the U.N. was dissolved, seeing as most nations were replaced by hostile Factions; The Union of Socialist States,( the Soviet Union annexed Eastern Europe), The European Federation,( the E.U. federalized with Scandinavia, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, United Germany, Greece, and Turkey acting as the border with the Soviets), The United States of North America, (Mexico, Greenland, Canada and USA), The Pan-Pacific Federation,( Southeast Asian, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Oceania, Australia and New Zealand), The African Union,( with support from capitalist space fairing powers in Europe a stable unified African government was established at first as a dictatorship then later a democracy designed to act like the EU with its many cultures, languages, and ethnicities), The Federation of Latin America,( Brazil invaded and conquered South America, the Caribbean, and everything south of the Yucatan peninsula including the Panama canal, EU nations realizing they couldn't protect those regions decide to sell them to the FLA to avoid war) United Islamic Caliphate,( Iran and Saudi Arabia United to conquer Iraq Pakistan Afghanistan the Arabian peninsula and the Levant removing Israel) the Empire of the Raj,( India invades China and Pakistan taking Kashmir and the entire Tibetan plateau it also annexed Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh), and the Chinese People's Empire,( China annexed North Korea but failed to annex communist Southeast Asia due to PPF interference causing southeast asia to join the PPF). With The Earth and her colonies divided between 9 major faction and a new rush for land began.
2080 Earth population reaches 12 billion. Luna has 13 million. Mars 22 million.
Factions and ideologies;
USS: Communist Dictatorial Federation. The communist party representing each member state votes for a leader to rule until they die or are removed by the party. The elected President is dictator however without the parties support they will not last long.
- Brief history, in 2029 the USSR annexes its puppets in Eastern Europe but loses Yugoslavia as an ally. Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, The Baltics, Poland, and Czechoslovakia are annexed. East Germany staged a coup and drove the Soviets out then united with west Germany. To avoid a war the Soviets allow it. 2036 UIC invades to conquer the Caucuses, Afghanistan, and central Asia. 2042 USS cedes Afghanistan and all territory south of the caucus mountains to the UIC but was able to keep hold of central Asia.
EF: Capitalist Parliamentary Federation. Each member state elects representatives to parliament. The Prime minister is voted into power by the parliament and is in charge for 10 years. They cannot run for the position again.
- Brief history, In 2035 as a direct result of USS troops on the border the EU federalized uniting Greece, Turkey, Italy, Germany, UK, Ireland, Denmark plus Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, France and the Benelux. Yugoslavia and Switzerland joined 1 year later due to increased pressure from the Soviets to either pick a side or be annexed. European minor states like Monaco and Andorra are annexed while the Vatican remains independent.
UNAS: Capitalist Congressional Republic. Each state elects representatives to Congress which is divides into the Senate and House of Rep. The President is elected by popular vote.
- Brief history, 2021 Canada buys Greenland from Denmark. 2035 Mexico, due to pressure from the FLA, votes to unite with the USA to prevent invasion. 2036 Canada joins the new union. 2040 the FLA invades to conquer Mexico. FLA Navy and Airforce prove superior and as such take the Carribean from Union hands but are unable to advance on land. 3 years of brutal stalemate and peace is achieved with the Union ceding the Caribbean to the FLA.
PPF: Capitalist Parliamentary Federation. Each member state elects a Rep. to parliament who then elect a PM for 10 years. 2 term limit for the position.
- Brief history, in 2019 Indonesia invaded Malaysia and the Philippines. 2020 Indonesian annexes both nations, then invades Burma and Myanmar. 2023 The Indonesian Empire invades Australia however Japan and Taiwan intervene and thanks to superior technology conquer the fledgling Empire. 2026 Japan and Australia decide that China and the Soviets are too great a threat to ignore and Unite with the puppeted Indonesian Republic forming the PPF. 2031 China invades Vietnam but PPF forces drive them out. Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia all are integrated into the PPF after only a year of war with China to protect themselves from the empire in the north. This is a significant blow to communism. 2032 South Korea is integrated. Due to its vast differences in language, culture, and ethnicity, the PPF acts like the EU and AU being a mostly decentralised nation with large amounts of autonomy for its varying states.
AU: Capitalist Parliamentary Republic. Each member state elects Reps. who then vote for a PM. 5 year terms but they can only be elected twice.
- Brief history, in 2019 Egypt falls to a dictatorship, swiftly followed by Algeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, and The DRC. What made these dictatorships stand out was that they were all taken over by the same group, Africa United. It was a western backed military alliance designed to crush communist uprisings in Africa without drawing in the Soviets by directly interfering. By 2030 Most of North Africa was conquered as was East and South Africa. The DRC fell to communists from Angola and soon the number of countries in Africa dropped to 12. In 2036 the dictatorial AU invades the Communist African nations since the Soviets cannot aid them due to a war with the Caliphate. 2046, 10 years after the start of the war the AU annexes communist africa. 2053 the AU sufferers mass protests against the brutal dictatorships. Fearing a communist uprising during the protests, the AU transitions into a democracy but it would be plagued with revolts, coup attempts, and revolutions till 2075 when its united military finally ends the rebellions. However due to numerous different religions, cultures, ethnicities, and languages, the AU remains the most decentralized of all the factions with each individual state having large amounts of autonomy to prevent full scale civil war.
FLA: Socialist Congressional Federation. Each province elects Reps. to Congress who then elect a PM. However while the PM is the leader of the civilian aspect of the nation, the military is lead by a President who is elected in war time by the Council of Generals and Admirals. The Council takes control of the government whenever war breaks out or a crisis happens. It is made up of the highest ranking military officers and outside of war time obeys the PM.
- Brief history, in 2018 Brazil is taken over in a military coup to remove the corrupt government. 2019 Brazil annexes Suriname, and Cayenne but purchases Guyana. 2021 Brazil invades Uruguay and Paraguay. 2023 Argentina invades Bolivia however Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru step in try to stop them. By 2025 Ecuador joins against Brazil however due to the harsh jungles of the Amazon most troops of the alliance must be shipped to Bolivia while Argentina invades Chile. 2026 Brazil launches a surprise aerial and naval invasion of Venezuela and Columbia. With most of their men tied up in the south they capitulate quickly forcing the allies to fight a 3 front war. 2027 Brazil pushes into Peru while Argentinians take Bolivia. 2031 Brazil crushes Peru and Chile finally falls to Argentina ending the South American wars. 2032 Brazil and Argentina unite to form the FLA to pacify conquered lands making Portuguese and Spanish the official languages. 2033 the FLA launches a Naval and Aerial invasion of the entire region of Central America and the independent Caribbean nations. 2040 FLA invades UNAS and takes their Caribbean holdings and Mexico but is unable to make it past the Yucatan. 2043 the war ends with the UNAS ceding all of its caribbean holdings. 2044 the EF sells its holdings in the Caribbean to prevent war.
UIC: Capitalist Theocratic Monarchy. Lead by the Council of Allah each member is from 1 of the many schools of Islam spread between the Sunni and Shia faiths. They advise the Monarch on how to run the country as Allah wills it. Local government is more or less democratic however it is heavily Islamic in terms of laws. Each school has their own laws and rules that their people either must follow or are encouraged to follow. The level of enforcement depends on the school. The Monarchy holds much power but is powerless without the Council's approval, and according to them Allah's approval, and the Council is powerless without the Monarch to unite the common folk.
- Brief history, 2010 Iran and Saudi Arabia invade and divide Iraq. 2015 SA invades Syria. 2020 Iran invades Pakistan. 2023 Iran partitions Pakistan with the Raj agreeing to take in their Muslims to try and end the hostilities between them. 2021 Israel annexes Palestine and names Jerusalem its capital. 2022 Israel invades Iranian backed Lebanon and Saudi backed Jordan in response Saudi and Iran unite military to remove Israel. 2025 Israeli forces are routed and Palestine is put in charge of the Levant. 2026 an exiled Saudi Prince is elected President of Iran and claims the Saudi throne. Saudi king abdicates the same year and the New King unites Iran and Saudi Arabia ending the Sunni-Shia divide on a governmental level. 2028 the King declares a Caliphate and annexes Palestine. 2036 UIC invades the USS to gain control of their oil thus limiting where other nations can purchase it from. 2042 UIC annexes Afghanistan and the South Caucasus ending the war without impacting oil trade substantially like they hoped.
ER: Capitalist Constitutional Monarchy. Each state elects Reps. to parliament and they elect a PM. They serve 10 years for 1 term. The ruling Monarch only has as much power as the Constitution allows. While the Monarch is a figurehead they are loved by the majority of the people making their opinions valued by the parliament.
- Brief history, in 2019 India forms the Empire of the Raj. 2020 the ER invades Pakistan to take Kashmir. 2023 Pakistani war ends with the partition of Pakistan. 2025 The Raj annexes Nepal and Bhutan. 2026 Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are annexed. 2032 The ER invades the CPE to take the Tibetan plateau and aid the PPF. 2035 The CPE drops nuclear bombs on New Delhi and in retaliation the Raj nukes Beijing. 2045 China cedes The entire plateau. The bloodiest war in modern history with 214 million Indians killed in Chinese nuclear attacks and 360 million Chinese in Indian nuclear attacks. Both nations devastated and forced to rely on their colonies for food due to radiation killing most plants. It was the first use of nuclear weapons in war since WW2.
CPE: Communist Dictatorial Monarchy. The communist party picks the most influential member to be crowned Emperor however this position is both a figurehead and a scapegoat for the communist party. The Emperor has little power outside of what the party gives them and should something bad, happen like Nuclear war, they are blamed while the Party gets away scot free. The position is used to remove Political rivals in the Party by putting them in the public eye. With so much attention the Emperor can no longer manipulate the Party from behind the scenes and can no longer purge rivals. The position is considered a career death sentence.
- Brief history, in 2020 China annex North Korea and Xi Jing Pi is crowned the People's Emperor by the communist party of China. 2031 China invades Vietnam. 2032 China is forced out of Vietnam and accepts peace due to Indian invasion and PPF interference. 2035 China nukes New Delhi and a day later the Raj nukes Beijing. This would be the first use of nuclear weapons in the war but not the last. The next few days are when most of the casualties happen. 2042 what's left of China surrenders and cedes Tibet. 2045 New Chinese Emperor is selected by the party following Xis mysterious death. 2050 China finished relocating its population to unaffected regions in the largest migration in human history.
Austrian Republic: Socialist Congressional Democracy: Austria followed the old Swiss plan for neutrality due to it being sandwiched between 2 major superpowers. Due to its neutrality it is selected to host the JRCs headquarters on earth.
December 1st 2083. The FLA Completes the world's first launch loop allowing for mass emigration to its colonies. By 2090 most other nations have completed their own. This reduces the cost of maintaining colonies and emigration to said colonies increased by more than 3000%. 2097 The PPF creates the Orion Pulse Nuclear engine allowing for ships in the void to travel from Earth to Mars in Two weeks instead of several months at the closest points. This creates radiation trails between the planets forcing all nations to increasing radiation shielding for ships, stations, and colonies. 2100 The FLA reverse engineers a stolen OPN engine. 2108 all nations use variations of the engine to reach the colonies. 2110 The AU establishes military bases on Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars, claiming the moons for themselves.
In October 2118 FLA scientists uncover the first signs of alien life in an underground archive called The Vault. 2120 The first bits of data from The Vault are translated and the species is finally given the name Protheans based on the Promethei Planum where they were found. 2121 USS spies discover The Vault and panic. They could not allow any other nation to own advanced alien technology and soon go public with the FLA's discovery. With news of not only alien life, but that its tech was in FLA hands, the other nations soon demanded access to The Vault or face total nuclear war. Under so much pressure the FLA agrees and a multinational research team called the Joint Research Committee or JRC is established. In 2122 mass revolts begin to take place across the colonies of the earth based governments for either indepence or representation with the exception of the AU who had already foreseen this issue due to the same thing happening to it back on earth. To regain control of the colonies, and prevent the loss of the archive, most nations agree and restructure themselves. The EF became the United European and Colonial Federation (UECF). The UNAS became the Union of North American States (UNAS). The AU became the United African Colonial Republics (UACR). The FLA was renamed the Federation of Latin States (FLS). The PPF became the Trans-Oceanic Colonial Federation (TOCF). The UIC didn't rename, nor did the CPE, USS, or ER.
In 2130 the first universal translator is created and implanted in both the eyes and ears allowing for the reading and understanding of any language in its database. Problems arose when sounds didn't match the lip movements, causing minor headaches similar to watching a dubbed foreign film. In 2135 access to eezo aka element 0, which is made up of an unknown subatomic particle similar to neutrons, is achieved when a secret room is opened in The Vault. It is a highly flammable substance with the ability to alter the mass of an object when an electric current is ran through it. Positive for more mass, negative for less.
2140 the First eezo based FTL drive is tested by the JRC team allowing for a ship to travel from Mars to Earth in a little over 1 minute. This is more than 3 times the speed of light. 2145 most of the archive has been translated while most of the data is about earth 50,000 years ago several files are found regarding eezo engines and weapons. 2150 Mars becomes the de facto capital for humanities shipyards due to its proximity to the asteroid belt. While expensive and rare, eezo is soon used to create small fleets of ships used to colonize the moons of the gas giants. 2153 The FLS Begins construction of Orbital Defense Network which is used to protect their colonies from both asteroids and rival fleets. due to the division of most worlds the ODN has guns pointed towards the ground and space. Other nations soon follow. 2155 CPE creates the first eezo powered surface to space cannon to target the ODN. The Sentinel Cannons are soon joined by counterparts across the other nations.
As the wonder of alien tech faded, and the military applications became more and more apparent, a new arms race began as humans built more and bigger ships. Soon most of the solar system was claimed or colonized and an apparent lack of both eezo and living space.
2162 March 3rd. The TOCF Science vessel Kyoto's Pride discovers a large source of eezo just outside of Pluto on the ice moon of Charon. With the discovery being sent back to the JRC every nation was soon scrambling to reach the eezo deposits. What they found instead was an unknown alien artifact covered in the ice. Within 2 months the ice was chipped away enough to reach the artifact. As the United Fleet, suggested and controlled by the JRC after the artifacts discovery, moved in closer the Artifact activated and soon began to tear Charon apart. Seeing the destruction of the moon the fleet rapidly backed off as the tuning fork shaped object was revealed. Back on Mars the JRC scientist's were tearing the archives apart trying to find what it was.
On September 5, 2163, the ERSS Gandhi entered the orbit of the Artifact, now called a mass relay, thanks to data from the archives, and received a transmission asking for its mass. Upon transmitting the data the Ghandi was catapulted at FTL speeds out of the solar system. 3 minutes later the Gandhi returned informing JRC that it had traveled to another solar system more than 30 light years away. With this discovery a new era of exploration and colonization began with humans spreading to every world they could reach and opening every relay they could find.
By 2170 the Human population had reached more than 23 billion with 22 billion in the home system either living in massive Arcologies, Orbital Habitats, or Colonies. In 2200 the terraforming of Mars is completed allowing for even more the red planet to be settled and freeing up the resources previously used to terraform. Humanity now controlled more than 30 star systems and 4 garden worlds with most systems being used to mine resources for the fleets.
In 2210 the UACR uses the eezo gravity generator to make the first Gravity bomb capable of increasing gravity in a localized area by 210 times Earth's gravity. This new weapon is banned from use on planets due to the sheer destruction it causes. In 2 months the FLS replicates the bomb and miniaturized it to fit on ship based torpedoes. This however reduced its power to 175Gs.
Fleet numbers: UACR (United African Colonial Republic): 500 corvettes, 250 frigates, 125 light cruisers, 50 destroyers, 25 battleships, 50 heavy cruisers, 8 carriers, 6 dreadnought.
UECF (United European Colonial Federation): 700 corvettes, 350 frigates, 175 light cruisers, 60 destroyers, 60 battlecruisers, 60 heavy cruisers, 10 carriers, 5 dreadnoughts.
UNAS (Union of North American States): 800 corvettes, 400 frigates, 200 light cruisers, 100 destroyers, 100 battlecruisers, 50 battleships, 100 heavy cruisers, 13 carriers, 5 dreadnoughts.
UIC (United Islamic Caliphate): 600 Corvettes, 300 Frigates, 150 light cruisers, 60 destroyers, 60 heavy cruisers, 6 carriers, 10 dreadnoughts.
USS (Union of Soviet States):600 corvettes, 300 frigates, 150 light cruisers, 100 heavy cruisers, 100 destroyers, 60 battlecruisers, 50 battleships, 9 carriers, 5 dreadnoughts.
CPE (Chinese People's Empire):800 corvettes, 400 frigates, 100 destroyers, 20 battleships, 2 carriers, 10 dreadnoughts.
ER (Empire of the Raj): 500 corvettes, 250 frigates, 200 destroyers, 100 light cruisers, 80 heavy cruisers, 30 battlecruisers, 10 battleships, 8 carriers, 8 dreadnoughts.
FLS (Federation of Latin States): 700 corvettes, 350 Frigates, 150 light cruisers, 70 destroyers, 60 heavy cruisers, 40 battlecruisers, 20 battleships, 15 carriers, 5 dreadnoughts.
TOCF (Trans Oceanic Colonial Federation): 600 corvettes, 300 frigates, 200 light cruisers, 150 heavy cruisers, 180 destroyers, 20 battleships, 50 battlecruisers, 13 carriers, 4 dreadnoughts.
Human ships are similar in design because the JRC designed them. All fleets have a 2:1 ratio for corvette:frigates to allow frigates to have 2 escorts each in their wolfpacks. The additional firepower and targets making them more effective in both evasion and attack. Light, heavy, and battlecruiser variants are used for mid-ranged combat with light variants focused in speed, heavy focused on defense, and battle focused on attack. Destroyers are mid to long-range attackers since they have little armour however they make up for it in firepower. Battleships are the heavy mid-ranged ships with both heavy armour and weapons meant to intercept enemy fighters and wolfpacks and destroy them before they reach the carriers and dreadnoughts. Carriers act as troop and vehicle transport with variants for light, heavy, and assault classes meant for speed, defense, and attack respectively and are dedicated long-range ships. Finally, the Dreadnoughts are the heaviest of all ships and acts as long-ranged artillery for the fleet meant to target enemy capital ships, stations, and worlds. Being large and slow they are the perfect targets for enemy wolf packs if left unprotected. Cruisers and battleships alike act as protection for the flagships of the fleet while corvettes and frigates harass the enemy. Destroyers act as support to cruisers and battleships that are engaging enemy fleets. Carries and Dreadnoughts average at 1 km in length and easily dwarf other ships with the closest being the battleship at 500m, Cruisers at 400-50m, destroyers at 300, Frigates at 150-200m and corvettes at 100m. All ships have a front magnetic accelerator cannon and carry basic missiles and flack guns to act as ship to ship and anti-air armaments with the Dreadnoughts having an Eezo empowered Railgun that first decreases the mass of the slug then speeds it up. Each slug is hollow and shaped like a bullet with a small eezo core designed to increase the mass of the slug to compensate for the decreased acceleration on impact allowing for the force to remain constant. The initial shockwave activates the eezo core while simultaneously weakening the superstructure of the target. Mass can also be increased right before impact to increase the force even further however that requires the slug to be equipped with more advanced sensor. Each slug is made of a Titanium-Tungsten depleted uranium alloy with a total mass of 1,000 to 10,000 kilograms or 1 to 10 metric tons. Variants of the slugs range from piercing to fragmentation and even acting as a shell for WMDs to enter the superstructure of a target.
Each ship is specialized for each mission but WMD such as fission/fusion and gravity missiles are only in carriers and destroyers. Due to the size of the fleets, skilled pilots are hard to come by so most fighters are drones controlled by on board V.I.s however they can be remotely piloted when necessary. All carriers come equipped with bombers, fighters, and interceptors, of various designs based on the nation that builds them. How many of each that are on the ships depend on the mission. Likewise transport vessels and ground vehicles are also varied. Each ship comes equipped with a Thorium based reactor varying in size based on the vessel.
The reason that the number of Dreadnought and carriers varies so much is due to both access to resources and military doctrine. For instance, the CPE has more dreadnoughts because its doctrine calls for the decimation of capital ships, since they are the major threat, while the FLS focuses on carriers so they can swarm hostile support ships and leave the capital ships alone as sitting ducks.
2230, humanity now has 9 natural garden worlds and 1 is assigned to each faction. The UACR names their world Zulu's Pride. The USS world is named New Russia. The UNAS world is named Eagle's Reach. The CPE world is named New China to no one's surprise. The ER world is named the Eye of Shiva. The TOCF world is an ocean world with one major continent that makes up 30% of the surface named New Borneo. The UIC world is named Allah's Gift. The FLS world is named Amazonia. The UECF world is named New Geneva. Each world belonged to the aforementioned nation exclusively in order to prevent conflicts.
While decentralized Humanity controls 5800 corvettes, 2900 frigates, 1250 light cruisers, 660 heavy cruisers, 340 battlecruisers, 195 battleships, 920 destroyers, 79 carriers, and 63 dreadnoughts making them a dangerous threat to any who challenge it. In 2235 the Lunar defense ring is created to protect earth. It circles the moon in orbit and is 10 km wide by 3 km thick and is the largest structure in Sol. 2240, humanity controls more than 50 systems with 9 natural garden world and more than 20 colonized systems. Humans settled on every world they could reach, regardless of the environment, building domed and sealed settlements across inhospitable worlds and space habitats in systems that couldn't be settled normally. Total human population reaches 52 billion as many settle on the garden worlds and start families.
June 23rd 2253.
The Joint Research Committee takes command of the Lunar ring, building 10 space elevators at key structural points to connect the ring to the Moon and declares it a freeport for all military and civilian vessels as well as starts construction of a space station at the primary relay node in Arcturus that leads to all human space. It would be completed in 10 years. The Station would be more than 10 km in height and 6 km in diameter at its thickest. The massive station has its own independent military that acts as security recruited from all nations as well as its own fleet that is provided by each nation. It is run by the JRC and acts a neutral ground for humanity as well as a critical refuelling station that is strategically placed at the heart of human space. It comes equipped with more than 1000 Sentinel cannons, 5000 missile launchers, and 10 orbital MAC cannons that can be repositioned to target any hostile ship. It is also covered tens of thousands of flak guns that act as anti air weapons. It comes equipped with humanity's most advanced technology and is primarily a research station and space port.
2264, the CPE discovers a new garden world and name it Shanxi and it has a relay.
December 12th JRC issues the order to activate the relay and 1 science ship heads through with 2 frigates and 4 corvettes as escorts.
They never return.
Authors note: Thanks so to my beta szierera, they helped me clean up this chapter and gave me many ideas and tips. This chapter is mostly world building but chapter 2, which my beta is reviewing, is done and is a much better read. To those of you who don't like these sorts of chapters don't worry. The next one will be short and won't appear till the end of chapter three, which is halfway done.