The loss of the Manswell expedition space colony ships was a blow, but it was too late to stop the many businesspeople who owned corporations relating to leisure and tourism and technology from getting an interest in spaceflight, although their motives were not as forward-thinking as Manswell's. Where Manswell had hoped humanity could finally get into space for adventure and discovery, others were in it for a quick buck, and the industries were there. Manswell's hot tourist sites on the moon and on Mars raked in a massive profit each month, and so others decided to cash in on the same thing. There was serious competition between the different firms, and the ones who got there first received the best rewards and at different prices.

However, Victor Manswell's legacy lived on when the Epstein Drive was invented on Mars. While fusion drive ships existed and there were many exploration flights, their range was severely curtailed. Fusion drive allowed the moon and Mars to be colonised and surveyed, but the asteroid belt and the outer planets to say nothing of the Oort Cloud had yet to be explored.

The Epstein Drive changed all of that. A fusion drive was invented by the physicist and fusion drive specialist, Solomon Epstein, who had worked for governments and space exploration groups and then worked for Victor Manswell himself, Epstein was one of the primary reasons why the Manswell fusion drive types became gradually more powerful and more efficient, so it wasn't a surprise when he developed a new kind of fusion drive that was far superior to anything used previously and became the lynchpin in the development of fusion drive development.

With the new Epstein drive, humanity began exploring the asteroid belt quickly and then they reached the outer planets of the solar system before moving on to the Oort Cloud. All of this occurred in only 8 years.

Adventurers began taking small ships, supplying them with enough food and water to last for two-three years and they set out to explore the Oort Cloud which they saw as the key. Some of these pioneers were prospectors who were interested in making their fortunes, and like the adventurers saw that humanity's space-faring future was going to be decided in the Oort Cloud, and they found metals and chemicals which were extremely rare on Earth which made them extremely expensive.

Platinum.

Gold.

Diamonds.

Palladium.

Iron.

Carbon.

Titanium and many other exotic elements were discovered in the Oort Cloud, making the prospectors extremely rich and powerful. Not wanting to be left out, corporations moved in and they colonised large asteroids to provide closer homes for the mining teams. The new space age of humanity was not always a good thing.

Mars, as the first large planet colonised by humanity, had a massive population of 10 billion people, relieving the problems on Earth many times over. But the growing resentment towards Earth-born humans caused problems. While Mars did depend on the mother planet for supplies here and there, the colonies and settlements were largely self-sustaining. On top of that, the Martian-born humans were leaders in the development of space flight, mostly because laboratories were built on Mars which made the Epstein drive possible.

The Epstein drive was invented on Mars, and although Solomon Epstein was accidentally killed in the first test due to the unprecedented and unexpected power output of the velocity, the drive lived on and it soon became the symbol the Martian government hoped to use to secede from Earth, with the Epstein drive, the Martians had faster ships and a technological hold over Earth especially as they were responsible for the corporations gaining a foothold in the rest of the solar system, to begin with, but their advancements gave them a greater edge to gaining independence.

Determined to deal with the problem, Earth continued to refuse and tourism in space was cut off in the hopes it would make the Martians see sense, but in truth, nobody was bothered since the colonies were largely self-sufficient. It had the opposite effect and Mars began advancing their technology even more. Realising the Oort Cloud held the key, Earth sponsored many corporations to continue mining and therefore began to ignore Mars since they had other Epstein drive models at their disposal. They believed they didn't need the Martians.

Incensed, the Martians launched a war against Earth. But this war was not fought with guns, rockets, or rail-guns or lasers. They knew what it was like to be bled dry by corporations, so they reached out to the miners on the asteroids and told them they were being exploited by Earth. They knew persuading them was not going to be hard since the corporations forced them to work long hours in cheap spacesuits that were badly insulated from radiation. On top of that, independent pirate groups who had sprung up to steal the minerals from the cloud had so far gone unpunished, resulting in the Martian defence force getting involved and becoming heroes to the miners for their bravery while Earth did nothing. In the end, Mars won when Earth, desperate for new minerals, conceded to the deal. In return for independence, the miners would receive better conditions and the pirates would be dealt with, and the Epstein drive's newest models would be given to Earth.

Formed within a new, the new Martian Congressional Republic joined with the United Nations Space Navy, forming the Earth-Mars Coalition Navy, and they became a force dedicated to protecting the solar system. But the pirates were still a persistent problem. While the different pirate gangs were frustrated by how Earth had given in to the demands of the Martians and the asteroid miners, they continued to flourish, pushing deeper into the Oort Cloud with the new mining groups and prospectors and they remained a danger and a hazard for space travellers for the next 15 years.

However, while Earth was squabbling with political and economic schemes and problems, scientists finally made one of the most important discoveries in the history of Man; the discovery of life.

Astrobiologists had noted the similarities Earth and Venus possessed. The two worlds were seen as sister planets, where Earth received a positive nod to the development of life and Venus didn't, and a runaway greenhouse effect resulted in the planet possessing a punishing atmosphere which crushed any and all probes that ventured through the swirling clouds, and hazardous geological activity. But there were many scientists who believed microbes of some description existed in Venus's sulphuric acid clouds. And they were right. There were microbes. Detected by astrobiologists as the years passed, the discovery once it was positively checked stunned the Earth, but that was nothing compared to the number of discoveries that came from studying the microbes.

Once bacterias were cultivated from the Venusian microbes, great strides were made into producing better life support technologies; the microbes were like plants in water, soaking up the energy and then releasing it in the form of oxygen. Some microbes were even bioluminescent. But the greatest strides in bacteriological research lay in the field of medical science. Thanks to the microbes, more powerful drugs were created which healed things like heart conditions, but when oceanic life was discovered on Europa, they found a new form of plant life which contained a form of bacteria which, when combined with the microbes of Venus, created a miraculous healing gel. Named Bacta after the healing gel from the Star Wars franchise, bacta became incredibly popular, due to how it was so potent in rapid tissue regeneration due to injuries and burns while it prevented scar tissue formation. However, there were other forms of life contained within Europa's oceans. One, in particular, was added to the bacta formula, making it more powerful and potent. And this same microorganism was later used by a team composed of many bright minds who would figure out the best way to use the microorganism to that the Europa pioneers discovered to heal the oceans of the world and clean the skies. This discovery combined with the space technologies that made fusion-powered cars and solar bikes, maglev trains and air trains and hyper loops and underground railways refitted to make use of maglevs to reduce humanity's carbon footprint and made Earth a cleaner place to live.

But the pirates would not go away. They continued to harass interplanetary trade and they regularly attacked passenger liners and space colonies, but they couldn't risk travelling to Mars or one of the inner sol colonies unless they were truly brazen, or if they had contacts on Mars, the moon and on Earth to sell the wares they stole and captured. The Earth-Mars navy had a lot of trouble dealing with the pirates and this continued; no matter how many times pirate and smuggler groups were stopped and their hiding places found and destroyed, more would spring into place And the pirates continued being a major threat to the security of space travellers and explorers.

Meanwhile, on Mars, archaeologists discovered something interesting….