2-10-2020: Around 1345 hours the world changed forever as unusual signals were recorded from both Mars and the ocean. Scientists were baffled but the majority of the world was blissfully unaware of what was happening. Governments are warned but at most put their militaries on heightened attention with orders to simply keep their eyes and ears open despite the scientific community crying out the same results repeatedly. At best, the signs are written off as anomalies that will pass with time.
2-11-202: At 1213 hours the world was immediately placed in a state of emergency as unknown spacecraft rained from the skies and rose from the ocean depths. While the public demands to know how alien life could possibly be missed on Earth after centuries of exploring the planet, governments scrambled their militaries and frantically attempted to contact the aliens. If there was any recognition it was ignored and humanity found itself caught in the crossfire of an interplanetary war. Nuclear assets, whether weaponized or civilian, are immediately targeted indiscriminately by both forces before they turn their focus towards each other. Many speculate the aliens viewing anything nuclear as a potential threat but have left humanity itself alone for the most part so far.
3-08-2020: Humanity begins to suffer greatly by the battles of the aliens and are soon viewed as an unwanted third party. Within hours, countries quickly find themselves under direct assault due to the few minor incursions that have occurred in the midst of the crossfire. Militaries, now ordered to change tactics from evacuating civilians and returning fire to total war, have almost no major success against the threats despite fighting on home ground and using what many consider superior tactics. Only special forces have any true success in fighting the aliens due to training, equipment, and more experience in general combat. In a desperate move to create an effective fighting force several nations reach out to one another and pool their best special forces and scientists into a singular organization. With the majority of the world in anarchy and the governments having to keep what remains of their countries alive long enough to live another hour, let alone another day, the force is given a carte blanche in all aspects with only one order "Win".
3-14-2020: Using a previously retired Cold War military bunker in an undisclosed location, the newly formed Extraterrestrial Combat Unit or X-COM begins to conduct operations against both threats. It quickly becomes evident however that X-COM must split its forces into two halves to battle the threats from above and below. Creating a joint command between the two branches of A-COM (Aquatic Combat) and T-COM (Terrestrial Combat), all aspects of warfare are changed and adapted to handle specific threats. Within weeks, both fronts begin to show steady results and bring in alien equipment and bodies (both dead and alive) to study.
6-27-2020: The following months have allowed humanity to catch its breath and reevaluate their foes. New technologies in the forms of energy weapons, magnetic firearms, revolutionary first aid surgical kits, and body armors built from materials captured from both fronts change the tide. Global conditions worsen but are ignored due to the greater threat. The aliens however become more and more displeased that their war is being interrupted by humanity and begin to target any large cities that are still standing. On several occasions, three way battles have occurred with collateral damage decimating the area.
9-17-2020: X-COM continues research into the alien menace while coordinating both its forces and the pockets of military that are still in existence. All countries are effectively erased and entire species are believed to have gone extinct. A question that has boggled the minds of all scientists is answered around this time and it is kept as a closely guarded secret until well after the end of the war.
4-01-2021: April Fools is marked as a turning point in the war due to X-COM launching a massive coordinated strike on several alien bases of both factions at once. The results are mixed and several experienced soldiers are lost but the "Fools Gambit" worked. Having full access to alien databases, humanity has the locations of enemy command and the means of cracking their transmissions.
4-22-2021: Finally unlocking the secrets the mysterious elerium, T-COM deploys plasma weapons with A-COM completing research into zrbite and begins development of sonic weapons a few days later. Both discoveries are considered by historians as the most important in human history due to the near limitless energy potential and weaponization of both element 115 isotopes.
5-10-2021: The "Battleship Duel" begins over the remains of India at 0317 hours. The aliens on both fronts amass their armadas in an epic clash that puts nearly every major naval engagement in humanities previous wars to shame. Spectators watch in awe as the two week battle litters the coast and countryside in corpses of hundreds of craft in all sizes. However the main contestants involved are the battleship class craft which are heavily prominent.
5-18-2021: X-COM, taking advantage of the crazed battle distracting the aliens, begins planning what would later be considered the greatest and most important attacks in human history. Using whatever forms of communication is left, soldiers from around the world are called to volunteer for the assault and are given coordinates on where to be picked up. All past grievances are put aside and it was stranger to not see soldiers of different nations, cultures, ethnicity's, and ideals banding together against a common foe. Humanity was on the brink of extinction and it would rather go down fighting aliens than other humans.
11-15-2021: Progress into the assault nears completion. Operation Martyr is briefed to all soldiers who are given one last chance to back out, none accept this option. With the aliens still licking their wounds from the Battleship Duel, the window to attack is set to launch counter invasions to Mars and the Mariana Trench.
1-13-2022: Operation Martyr begins at exactly 0000 hours T-COM launches two hundred Avenger craft towards Mars. A-COM launches Leviathan craft the next day in equal number and personnel.
1-14-2022: The Battle's of Cydonia and the T'leth begin. The aliens, caught completely off guard and possibly thinking little of the massive launches, scramble a defense. On Mars, T-COM soldiers storm the Cydonia region in what is later recounted as a "D-Day rush" using everything they have and even involve the Avengers to provide air support. In the Mariana Trench, A-COM aquanauts find the T'leth, a massive suborbital citadel that was forced into the ocean due to ancient damage, and breach its hull, engaging in a room-by-room push to fight their way into the heart of the alien super city. Both opening engagements last an unknown period of time but well over a week to gain a foothold. What follows on both fronts is the breaching of enemy command.
3-25-2022: A single message is heard around the world from T-COM channels that brings both joy and sorrow to all who hear: "Their grave is bigger than ours."
3-29-2022: The T'leth is spotted to rise above the Pacific around 2100 hours. Aircraft scramble to assault the massive craft but have no effect on it. Just as it reaches a mile in altitude an explosion is spotted followed by several more. The T'leth plummets back to the ocean before exploding in spectacular fashion. Collateral damage is extensive as coastal regions suffer tsunamis and the poisoned atmosphere grows thicker with pollutants.
4-13-2022: Alien activity has ceased since the destruction of both command facilities. The war is declared to be officially over. An estimated 5% of humanity is all that remains while 12% of all other animal and plant life is estimated to be alive. Minor incursions of lingering alien forces are reported but are utterly unfocused and wild. Clean up begins while memorials are constructed to honor the dead. The biggest memorials are built over the ruins of capital cities in all former nations.
2025: The following years prove to be a brutal challenge for humanity. Despite eliminating any remaining wild aliens and making great strides in cleaning the environment thanks to new technology, humanity is still suffering. Anarchy is rampant and no true forms of government are capable of handling the situation. X-COM in a bold move declares martial law over the planet and efficiently begins to bring order to the masses.
2034: The world has finally reestablished a sense of order and X-COM steps down from power. The cause of the alien war is quietly leaked to the public as well as the reintroduction of formerly extinct animals which are placed in secure zoos along with modified technology for civilian use. The public is surprised by the gifts from X-COM scientists but concerned about the cause of the war. The "aquatics" as they were called, are actually natives to Earth while the Martians hailed from the red planet. Their feud began long before humanity has evolved and almost ended with the extinction of the dinosaurs with Earth narrowly surviving the Cretaceous Extinction (in which the T'leth crashing being the creation of the Mariana Trench and the final nail in the coffin for the dinosaurs in conjunction to the Chicxulub Crater being formed by the Martians throwing an asteroid at Earth in the form of mass kinetic bombardment) while Mars is rendered a dead world. What began in 2020 was nothing more than their resurgence to finish their long forgotten ancient war with humanity just happening to be in the way.
2045: Earth has recovered further and the environment has shown signs of massive recovery but clean up is still required. X-COM slowly fades into a obscurity before becoming a global private military contractor (PMC). Expeditions to Mars have proven that there are no hostiles still on the planet and plans for a colony are drafted up. In July, a surprise discovery brings X-COM back into the spotlight as sectoid-human hybrids are discovered. The hybrids are quarantined but offer no forms of resistance other than sheer confusion. Investigations lead to a cloning facility that somehow survived the war and has been home to the hybrids ever since its end. The hybrids are carefully integrated into society.
2050: Mars is successfully colonized with multiple elerium mines forming its economy. To help relations with between the two worlds and the eventual future colonies, the Planetary Governing Union (PGU) is formed. X-COM once again is a PMC but is officially backed by the new PGU. Plans for a new "mega city" are drafted and construction begins over the remains of Toronto, Canada.
2054: Angry elerium miners rebel against the super corporation of Solmine. When the company calls X-COM to handle the rebels, X-COM refuses the minute they see the company's business practices. Earth and Mars, in need of the precious resource despite abundant zrbite, look for a new means of quelling the rebels. Solmine eventually finances a young but potential private security of the name Mars Security or Marsec for short. Within a few weeks, Marsec brutally puts an end to the rebellion and enters the corporate stage as a formidable weapons manufacturer and PMC. X-COM quietly condemns the new company.
2055: The year begins with the rise of two political lobbyists stemming from Earth and Mars, the Extropians and Technocrats respectively. Both fail to gain any political power but become somewhat popular in their ideals. Both share similar goals but the Extropians have a far stricter business attitude while the Technocrats are more socialist in their approach. Political jokes are made about the groups but the majority of both worlds ignore them as a whole.
2059: The Cult of Sirius is formed. No one knows where or specifically when this crazy cult formed but somehow they gain followers. Condemning X-COM, they claim that the aliens are the true masters of humanity and that whoever would have won would have been the rightful leader. The Cult easily becomes a thorn in the PGU and X-COM but despite their acts law enforcement proves to be difficult. Despite the extreme violence of some of its more radical members, the Cult covers its tracks exceptionally well, making them near impossible to touch. The PGU secretly orders X-COM, Marsec, and any other major PMC that polices the Solar System to conduct covert operations on the Cult, whether it be digging up dirt or rooting out cells.
2079: One year before Mega-Primus is finished, a surprise political shift allows both the Extropians and Technocrats to gain power in the city despite it being unfinished. Despite this, the city continues as planned and sees the rise of new mega corporations. The PGU states concerns about the new city state and warns that the mega city is still a test to see if future megacities are possible but is ignored. Mass transit giant Transtellar gains a monopoly on the city's interplanetary and taxi services.
2080: Mega Primus is completed and opened on New Year's Day and sees rise of new technologies being used in daily life. Many companies spring to life overnight while others begin to muscle their way in. Earth as a whole watches the city in interest while the PGU does so in concern. The city's functions are split into different categories:
Transit-Transtellar handling taxi and interplanetary; Superdynamics handling the People Tubes (later turned over to Transtellar due to business) and air based vehicle maintenance; and General Metro handling ground vehicles specializing in anti gravity hovering but still capable of using wheels
Energy-Solmine handling elerium power plants which are far more profitable than zrbite; Energen handling alternative sources of energy that quickly prove to be cleaner and cheaper than elerium despite having less power
Emergency-Megapol handling the city's emergency response units and acting a military
Maintenance-Synthmesh handles city repairs and groundskeeping
Medical-Sanctuary Clinic serving as a general public hospital service; Nanotech controls medical science
Technology-Cyberweb handles computer and technical science advances
Education-Lifetree handles the city schooling system and teaches through psionics
Entertainment: Sensovision handles the city's television services and introduces the new psionic projector technology; the Grav Ball League offers a new sport for the city and currently dominates all stadiums in the city
Food-Nutrivend mass produces food in an efficient and clean manner to the point where the city actually exports products
Waste disposal-Evonet handles all waste in the city and focuses heavily on recycling
The city also sees an introduction of Marsec offering an arms dealership and somehow the Cult of Sirius gains a foothold as well. Hybrids are allowed entry but are shocked to find extreme prejudice and quickly find themselves trapped with no means of easily getting out. Mega-Primus even goes so far as to distance itself from the laws of the PGU within months of becoming operational. Unable to directly interfere, the PGU backs off but keeps a close eye on the city.
2081: Synthmesh accidentally creates fully sentient AI. The situation is quickly controlled however and the AI's are granted citizenship. Weeks after the incident the android's face extreme prejudice and find support in the form of the hybrid population and any humans who are sympathetic to both groups. Later that year the hybrid population rallies under the Mutant Alliance organization while the android's unite under Sentient Engine Liberation Front (S.E.L.F.) and both parties begin a campaign to obtain equal rights in the city. To smear the image of the city further, an ex Marsec scientist develops the drug-like addictive implant called psiclone. Despite being banned a month after its development, it continues to a common commodity in the city's black market with almost no true oversight to deal with the situation. The PGU sends its own personal task force to crack down on smuggling and development of the implant but are unable to legally enter the city itself to destroy the source of it. Frustrated, the task force receives orders to keep implant within city limits but have "open season the moment anything goes into international territory".
2082: X-COM is offered a position in the city to act as a security firm. Officers debate on the decision and question the consequences. In a close vote, X-COM agrees but only after all potential candidates to handle the position are evaluated and educated about the environment. To avoid backlash, X-COM leaders publicly announce that they are forming specific division to handle the "delicate nature of the city". When questioned what this division will be and how will it affect the other divisions, the response is that it will be tailored to handle anything that can happen in the city and will be called Urban Combat or U-COM for short. Behind closed doors, the new division is unofficially nicknamed the Agency due to the fact it will be an espionage division as much as it will be combat.
2083: Candidates for the new U-COM are whittled down. Mega-Primus is further isolated from the rest of the world and what is seen is considered by many too good to be true. Mars erupts into another rebellion that is more organized this time and far more popular with a crack team of guerilla fighters leading the rebellion under the name of the "Laser Squad". Citizens stuck in the slums of Mega-Primus are caught in a deadly gang war between the city's most prominent gangs Diablo and Psyke with the mafia styled organization Osiron greasing the wheels of Senate. Megapol enters a heated competition with Marsec for weapons development and aggressively attempts to end the gang war and expand its market. Both minority group factions in continue to face prejudice with little ground being gain and some members resulting to more radical methods. Earth is still damaged from the war sixty years ago with cleanup coming to frustrating dead ends due to what is considered the failed experiment of megacities and having humanity too spread out to make any gains. The PGU, while powerful and effective, slowly starts to loose the faith of the public with very little to offer in an attempt to remedy the situation.