Tensions were rife in the Oort Cloud with the pirate groups being forced to run further and further into the Cloud of asteroids where daring pilots struggled with the intense gravimetric eddies rippling through the asteroids on a daily basis, however the lure of profit was too strong, and the pirates regularly left their asteroid hideouts and ventured out of the Oort Cloud and launched surprise attacks on the various ships. However, the passenger liners and the ore freighters were becoming better at defending themselves. Like Manswell before them, many of the corporations realised cargo was the key to earning a profit, they had to defend it all from the pirates, and so they pushed their greatest minds into devising newer and more powerful weapons that could take the pirates by surprise. One of these was the nova missile, an Epstein drive propelled missile that exploded two fusion warheads at the same time, mixing with the energy of the drive to create an even stronger explosion. While it worked and they resulted in high casualties for the pirates, it wasn't ideal for use as a close-range weapon; the shockwaves from the blast were enough to tear into the hulls of the ship that fired them, bleeding the atmosphere into space.

Beam-based energy weapons were looked into, and eventually, fusion cannons which targeted a steady blast of energy from a fusion reactor were developed to blast through the strongest defences of a pirate ship with the same destructive potential as a nova missile but were safer. It wasn't long before it became popular.

Piracy still persisted, much to the embarrassment and frustration of the different defence and patrol organisations in the solar system despite these weapon upgrades. One of the most highly prized commodities stolen by the pirates were the microorganisms of Europa, which were used to make bacta; a favourite pirate tactic was to hijack a ship, either through inside jobs or infiltrations where their people would not be put at risk despite the rigorous security checks to make sure this didn't happen as it grew popular. Too many pirates were killed in direct assaults, so they adopted this method, and it worked. One way of countering it was the secret homing beacons contained on the ships, hidden except robots.

Once the pirates had the microorganisms in their possession, instead of marketing it in secret, they instead ransomed it for twice what it was worth. This tactic angered the many corporations who were responsible for the creation of bacta and other wonder drugs and cures, and the demand was high, so they had no choice but to pay, which made them put pressure on the Earth-Mars navy, who decided to deal with the pirates for good, and some of the admirals and other flag officers started to believe that if the Oort Cloud itself was removed from existence to remove the pirates from the picture, so be it.

The Navy went out and started launching devastating attacks in every direction using nova missiles to completely shatter asteroids the size of Earth's moon. But the pirates, many of whom were prospectors and miners who were ripped off by the corporations, were experts at hiding in the Oort Cloud and were used to the harsh gravitational conditions that mired the region surrounding the Sol system.

One of the first things the navy did when they began the war made sure they captured some of the outlying pirate bases - without them, they wouldn't have any long-range bases of operations from which to conduct their forces and plan out the strategies accordingly, they would lose the war or it would end in a stalemate. Both sides were evenly matched, with the same technology used on both sides and they utilised much the same weapons; the pirates' knowledge of the Oort Cloud also posed a number of problems since only a few members of the naval forces knew how to navigate them, and they quickly needed to pass on their knowledge and skills to others.

While the war dragged onwards, archaeologists on Mars who were studying readings buried deep beneath the southern polar region of Promethei Planum discovered buildings of an ancient civilisation. Archaeologists and scientists had long since seen Mars as a treasure trove for ancient discoveries, and once they found out what was buried underneath the polar region, everything changed. Humanity discovered the Prothean archives buried deep, a sophisticated computer system which was programmed to scan the computer programming of whatever technology the scientists had at their disposal to do their research. When they realised this, understanding the Prothean archive was easy since the computers within the archive were in English.

While the world reeled under the realisation intelligent life existed in the universe, other discoveries were soon made which went to benefit humanity.

The archive contained information on mass-effect technology created through element zero, a consignment of which was found within the archive, which used dark energy to either increase or decreases mass within the field, allowing anything within it to travel faster than light. Once discovered, physicists started experimenting with element zero to discover if this was the case, and very quickly an Epstein drive propelled ship was able to travel faster than light, faster than anything humanity possessed.

Plans were made to develop a truly new starship for exploring deep space and perhaps reach Alpha Centauri, and discover the fate of the various Manswell expedition ships, but the war took precedence when news reached Earth of major battles not going the way the navy wanted. A small task force was quickly put together, using extensively refitted ships outfitted to use mass-effect technology, but the United Nations rationed the supply of Element Zero to fulfil their plans for interstellar exploration. But there was more than enough there for them to launch a two-year mission to end the piracy.

The mass-effect-driven ships literally shattered the pirate's morale through surprise. The new ships were able to quickly pass through the Oort Cloud faster than any Epstein drive-powered ship, and they quickly overran many pirate hideouts and every asteroid was carefully searched to make sure there were no pirates on any of them. Morale plummeted to the lowest ebbs for the pirates, and many of them began to see they didn't have a choice, never mind a chance to steal any mass-effect ship; the navy and the government had anticipated such actions, and they had prepared for it. The element zero was kept in a vault and nobody could access it since it was hidden somewhere, and the ships that used it were kept under heavy watch so none of the usual pirate tricks could work.

On top of that, the mass-effect fields gave the navy a great advantage thanks to the fact the technology was so new a nova missile augmented with a mass effect field could bypass the warning systems of an asteroid, and cripple the defences or destroy the asteroid entirely thanks to intelligence. Within two years of constant fighting, the pirates decided enough was enough, and so they surrendered, leaving the Oort Cloud for good. Many of the asteroids had been shattered into millions of high-velocity fragments that circled the Sol system at super-fast speeds that could rip through alloy hulls like shrapnel. But that wasn't of any concern, the war was over and trade resumed, and thanks to the Prothean archive humanity could now travel faster than light.

The war had many benefits for the navy and for humanity; the loss of the pirates was only one of them, but many of the pirates were skilled navigators and fighters, and after a lengthy spell in prison for their crimes, the government reached a controversial decision that was greatly disputed; in exchange for their skills, many pirates were offered clemency in exchange for them becoming part of the navy when they began exploring the galaxy, believing their skills would be of great use against hostile aliens.

Technology-wise, the war had pushed the boundaries of research into faster Epstein drive and other propulsion technologies, and prosthetic grade bionics had improved dramatically, while weapons had been improved and new ones had entered service. But the greatest boon was the mass-effect technology they now possessed, and with the mass-effect relay found in Charon, one of Pluto's moons, humanity was no longer contained to the Sol system.

The breakthrough led to a desire to explore the galaxy. Three starships were developed with the mission to explore the local region of about 50-70 light-years, discover new deposits of element zero, and find new worlds to colonise.

Humanity had gone into space, never realising the scale of the journey they would endure, but they still had a long way to go.