Foreword

0600 hours, September 7, A.D. 2524

FSC Joint Operations Base, Colonia Arcadia,

United Nations Federation

When I wake up and get out of bed, the first rays of the sun come in through my bedroom window. I stretch my body to release the tension from him and head to the bathroom to clean my body and then put on my military field uniform and grab my work backpack. As I leave my bedroom, I see the other officers moving toward the officers' mess, which is usually full of male and female officers at this time of the morning heading to their respective workplaces.

I head to get the morning rations and meet close members of my unit at our usual breakfast table, walk over, and greet my unit in my usual monotonous voice.

- Good morning everyone - said I, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Barca, a native of Pacifica, a descendant of USNA migrants, commander of the 24th Airborne Battalion and the 1st Company.

- Good morning, Sir -, said Major Moana Searancke, a native of Pacifica, vice commander and commander of the 2nd Company).

- Good morning, Sir -, said Captain Natasha Romanov, of Russian origin, commander of the 3rd Company).

- Good morning, Sir -, said Captain Edward Roberts, of American origin, commander of the 4th Company)

- Good morning, Sir - said Captain Rin Lao, of Chinese origin, Leader of the 5th Company).

- Rest, we are not in time for work -, I tell my team.

- Thank you sir, now we are going to eat - Moana said, enjoying her breakfast.

We sit and listen to the lively informal talk of my unit in silence, as I watch the news on television. At that very moment, I feel the world freeze around me, as if time itself had stopped. Mentally, I heave a sigh.

- Good morning, what can I do for you, Star of Dawn? - I say to the mysterious presence that manifests itself.

- Oooh come on, can't I visit an old friend for old times? - Said Star of Dawn, her voice comes out of nowhere.

- First Point, I am not your friend. Second Point, whenever you visit me it is to take care of some of your dirty work -, I say with a poker face, while I am irritated inside.

- Hahaha, well, always straight to the point. Well, you'll see a decorated officer will be arriving at your base soon. It may not seem out of the ordinary, but he has a big secret, he is bothered by a self-proclaimed God, whom he calls Being X. I want you to contact him to discuss this matter. - Said Star of Dawn.

- What are you getting me into? I don't have the power to fight a God, if that's what you're implying - I say, putting an exclamation point figuratively above my forehead.

- No, nothing like that. In fact, on the contrary, I find it very entertaining as he suffers under the scourge of the self-proclaimed God. I not only want you to get close to him and be his friend, and if possible help him in whatever way you can. They call him "The Atheist" but his real name is Bernand von Degurechaff - said Star of the Dawn.

he mentally sighed again - Okay, I hope this doesn't cause me problems, but I want the usual pay, the information I got last time helped me to eliminate that terrorist cell from the New Stratford colony -, I mean, remembering my participation in the Antiterrorist Operation.

- Of course, do not worry. Those damned you sent me served well in my legions for my future campaigns. Until next time - Star of Dawn said.

- Until next time -, I say. «And to think that hell is involved in a civil war? Well, as long as it does not affect the Federation, everything is fine», - I thought indifferently.

Everything begins to move again. I look around to see if the new officer arrives, but he can't find anything, so I go back to eating.

- Is something wrong sir? - Moana asked, concerned about my actions.

- No, nothing, let's eat again -, he said. «Another day in paradise», - I thought sarcastically.

10,000 BC: Planet Earth - An automated alien exploration ship damaged by impact with an asteroid makes a forced landing on the island-continent of Pacifica. The exploration AI awakens from its hibernation and performs repairs to its ship and explores the planet. After several months, he determines that the repair of his translight motor and communications with his home due to the distance are impossible. However, instead of entering an existential crisis due to lack of purpose, she finds a new purpose as a guide and guardian of a native sentient species with much potential for growth from the shadows. She would become the incarnation of the Mother Earth Goddess of the Pacific natives and guide them in their technological and cultural advancement.

The first human settlements are established in the Middle East, Egypt, China, India, the Upper Rhine Plain, the Great Plains, Mesoamerica, the Andes, South Africa and the Pacific.

5,000 BC: The City - State of Pacifica begins to expand through its island - native continent and the islands of the southern Pacific.

3,500 BC: The Indus Civilization succeeds in assimilating the Indo-Aryan tribes.

1,000 BC: The Pacific Federation is founded. Its cultural influence would be felt throughout the Pacific basin for many centuries, known as the "Empire of Science and Meritocracy."

500 BC: The Chinese Empire and the German Empire are established. Each civilization would establish an area of cultural influence in Asia and Europe. The construction of the Great Walls of China (current northern border of China) and of Germania (current eastern Polish border) begins. Other great empires would be established around this time.

27 BC: The Roman Empire is established.

33 A.D.: The Age of the Gods ends. The passages to the "Dimension of the Gods" decrease throughout the world, when the level of magical energy or mana in the universe begins to decrease, it would not recover for almost two millennia, in an event like "Magic Oscillation". The Gods withdraw from the ancient world.

480 AD: Fall of the Western Roman Empire.

541 AD: Merlin, the Great Wizard of the West, dies. The Magic Age ends, the magical society is reduced to just over 12,000 wizards worldwide. They decide to partially isolate themselves from the society of non-magicians with few contacts between both societies. The last passages to the Dimension of the Gods are closed and almost all traces of magic are erased from the world.

1 200 AD: The Chinese Empire begins the conquest of Asia, being the second nation with firearms. It would establish its Hegemony for more than a century. It comes into contact with the West, mainly with the Byzantine Empire.

1,400 AD: Renaissance begins in Florence, Italy.

1 492 AD: Discovery of America. Spain comes into contact with advanced civilizations in North America (Cherokee Empire, Mexica Empire) and South America (Inca Empire). The first three decades of relationships are tense, but business relationships are established. However, European ambition provokes the conquest of America, which would be long and costly.

1710 A.D.: The Chinese Revolution ends and the ROC is founded. The Ming Dynasty that had lost its influence in Southeast Asia to the Europeans is exiled.

1775 AD: The American War of Independence begins. The secret society, known as The Order, extends its influence in the Second Continental Congress. It would be a major contributor to the Unification of the Earth in the XXIV Century.

1 789 AD: The French Revolution begins. During the next 25 years, the war would spread through Europe, with the French Republic and Napoleon Bonaparte as the main protagonists.

1 865 AD: The United States of America (USNA) is founded with the union of Mexico and the United States, after the end of the American civil war.

1 871 AD: The Holy Roman Empire is reunited under the Habsburg Dynasty - Hohenzollern. Achieve Continental Hegemony in Europe. The UK cannot intervene when it is at war with the Russian Empire in Afghanistan. The established imperial administration is approaching a meritocratic constitutional monarchy.

1884 A.D: A wizarding battle outside New York City reveals the existence of magic to the world. While the other countries fear this new power, the Holy Roman Empire sees an opportunity to form a new fighting force and establishes the Corps of Magicians and the Magic Academy of Germania, becoming the forefront of the advancement of magical research. for the next century.

1 904 AD: The Russo-China War begins. The conflict lengthens and provokes the Russian Revolution of 1906. The consequent civil war ends with the victory of the moderate faction of the Communist Party and the founding of the Russian Federation with the control of the territory of the extinct Russian Empire.

The war becomes the Far East War and China is victorious over the Western powers and manages to reestablish its area of influence over Southeast Asia and East Asia after more than a century of European domination of the region.

AD 1 920: The Turkish Revolution breaks out. The Ottoman Empire dissolves and the United Arab Republic and the Great Republic are founded, they manage to expel the European invaders and become independent with the help of the Republic of Persia. The volunteers of the Corps of Magi of the Holy Roman Empire demonstrate the valuable contribution of the Magi to the war efforts of the Arabs, they begin to be accepted in other countries.

1 926 AD: Tanya von Degurechaff, the Empire's Ace of Aces, is born.

1 929 AD: The Great Depression hits the economies of the Western world.

1 930 AD: The German Academy of Magic in conjunction with the Academy of Sciences managed to develop a Computing Assistant Device (Computerassistent-Gerät / CG). It marks the beginning of the development of modern magic and electronics. The magical energy of the universe is regenerated and people from non-magician families, but with magicians as ancestors, begin to be born with the ability to do magic.

1 940 AD: The Great War begins as a result of a series of scales between France and the Holy Roman Empire on the border that evolve into an armed conflict. The Imperial Armed Forces launched the Manstein Plan and defeated France on June 25, 1940. At the same time, Operation Weserübung began, invading the Scandinavian Union, in a preventive attack to prevent the United Kingdom from taking Norway, its enormous coastline. it would allow the Royal Navy to operate unhindered in the North Sea and act as a base of operations.

The Battle of the Atlantic begins.

1 941 AD: The Holy Roman Empire begins Operation Barbarossa, June 1. The Russian Federation suffers a series of defeats along the border, but recovers and begins the bloodiest and longest battles in history. Tensions between China and the United States reach a breaking point and the War of the Pacific begins.

1945 AD: The War in Europe ends with the occupation of the Holy Roman Empire by the Western Allies and the Russian Federation. The United States destroys the main Chinese fleet with two nuclear bombs and sends an ultimatum of surrender to the Chinese government. However, China responds a nuclear counterattack against the US fleet. After long discussions, a ceasefire is signed. China loses its influence over Korea, Japan and the islands of the Western Pacific, but retains its control over Southeast Asia.

1 947 AD: The Federal Republic of India becomes independent from the British Empire. The new country will become an emerging superpower over the decades.

1 949 AD: The Communist Party wins the presidential elections and founds the People's Republic of China after four years of instability in the ROC. The European Defense Community is founded.

1 950 AD: The Pacific Federation makes the first moon landing and begins preparations for the first lunar base. The Republic of Zimbabwe supports the independence of African countries and establishes the African Community, the forerunner of the African Union. A Clean and Renewable Energy Agenda is promoted throughout the world.

1 961 AD: The leaders of the five great superpowers meet in response to the UFO incident on the Dark Side of the Moon. However, the Space Security Summit ends without agreements and the Pacific Federation investigates the incident on its own. The other powers arrive years later at the scene of the incident to investigate.

1 970 AD: First Oil Crisis. The Clean and Renewable Energies Agenda is accelerated with the support of public funds despite resistance from the oil and gas industry.

1 989 AD: The Warsaw Pact falls. The European Union will expand into Eastern Europe in the coming years.

1 991 AD: The economy of the Russian Federation suffers under the effects of the Great Depression. This leads to the fall of the Communist Party and its replacement by a two-party system made up of the United Russia Party and the Social Democratic Party. The Russian Federation would recover with the beginning of the XXI century.

2 005 AD: The European Federation is founded after the signing of the "Treaty of European Constitution". The Nordic Alliance remains outside the new superstate, but united by the European Union.

2 014 AD: New York Times - The Pacific Federation takes the lead in the Space Race with the unveiling of its new Space Elevator. The Sleeping Giant of the Pacific awakens. March 21st. The Space Age begins.

2 020 AD: The International Space Agency (ISA) is founded. The Pacific Federation announces the construction of FSC's 1st Defense Fleet with a focus on space, which caused international controversy over the construction of spaceships of war.

WHO declares the COVID-19 Pandemic.

2 030 AD: The Andean Community made up of South America, Panama and the Lesser Antilles, founds the Federation of the Andes.

2 050 AD: The population of Mars reaches 2.5 million people. Mars and the Asteroid Belt become the largest industrial bases in the Solar System.

2 080 AD: ISA completes construction of 20 colonization ships with matter-antimatter engines and capacity of 25,000 people. The interstellar colonization era begins, with the plan to establish extrasolar colonies totally self-sufficient in their vital needs (food, medicine, technology, etc.), which will allow each of these to develop distinctive languages and cultures. This time would be known "Star Exodus".

2 150 AD: The International Space Agency succeeds in developing an FLT engine. Large-scale interstellar colonization and commerce becomes possible.

2170 AD: The Colonial Defense Front is founded as a group for the independence of the extrasolar colonies, rapidly gaining influence, but at that time it did not pose a threat to the political influence of the Solar System.

2 370 AD: Tensions between extrasolar colonies and the Solar System increase due to the unbalanced trade balance and the increased influence of the Solar System. The United Colonial Defense Front hijacks a UN flotilla and carries out attacks on cities on Earth, before being destroyed by the 1st FSC Defense Fleet. Casualties are estimated in millions of people with material losses for trillions of federal credits.

It becomes the trigger for the 30-year Unification War. The UN Unified Defense Command begins a counteroffensive against the extrasolar colonies, taken over by the Colonial Defense Front. The FSC Fleets serve as nuclei of the UN Fleets.

2 400 AD: The Unification War ends. The United Nations Federation is founded and the Federation Space Command (FSC) is established as a military, scientific and exploratory agency. After the post-war reconstruction, the Golden Age of the Ecumene Federation begins.

Hundreds of millions dissatisfied with the new government leave Earth and its colonies. The government allows them to leave because they are potentially a source of trouble. They would settle in the stellar region known as the "Ares Systems," an appropriate name because it is always in a state of semi-permanent warfare.

2 440 AD: Independent interstellar states of the United Nations Federation are founded, outside its borders, more than 1,000 light-years from Earth. The government does not recognize the existence of these states, but decides to avoid war as it allows those dissatisfied with the government to leave the interstellar territory of the United Nations Federation and improves public safety.

2 470 AD: Craver's Theory is published, predicting the outbreak of insurrection and large-scale wars in the Ares Systems and their impact on the stability of the EUnited Nations Federation.

2474 AD: Megacorporations increase their military presence and economic control over the colonies with trade restrictions and taxes, which generated greater dissatisfaction among the colonists and provoked the most radical secessionist elements in the Ares Systems.

Civil uprisings occur against colonial corporate governments. The response was swift and severe, but his heavy-handed tactics failed, only hardening the resistance against him and further radicalizing the population against him. While open and violent resistance was initially limited to disparate insurgent organizations, stronger and more aggressive dissidents began to rise onto the political stage, further plunging the colonies into greater levels of civil unrest.

2,485 AD: The United Nations Federation became more sympathetic to the moderate rebels, eventually providing them with information, funds, and equipment, with the goal of keeping conflicts out of the Ares Systems.

2 487 AD: A terrorist attack occurs in a refugee camp in the land colony of Costa Azul, known as Star Miami, near the Ares Systems. At the same time, a rebel officer of the Maxwell Megacorporation orders the nuclear bombardment of the Newcastle colony. The reaction of the population provokes the declaration of war by the United Nations Federation against various Megacorporations.

Terrorist Attack on the French Riviera of 2487

Nuclear Bombardment of Newcastle (Newcastle Uprising)

2 492 AD: The Defense Alliance of Ares against the United Nations Federation is formed. The war in the Ares Systems intensifies. The Ares superpowers maintain neutrality during the war, but the MID obtains reports of arms sales to the Ares Defense Alliance. Dissidents, insurgents, criminals and terrorists infiltrate the Ecumene Federation to cause chaos among the population. The FSC establishes a military encirclement in the star region of "La Frontera".

2 510 AD: The Population of the United Nations Federation reaches 48.5 billion people and the Ares Systems reach a population of 2.5 billion people. Estimated casualties from the Ares War reach 18 million people.

The Spartan-II Program (Creation of Super Soldiers) and the Merlin Program (Creation of Supermagicians) are initiated, to subdue the Ares Defense Alliance.

2 520 AD: A dangerous viral infection spreads, beginning the 1st Interstellar Pandemic and the deadliest in history. More than 750 million people die in the course of two years. It lays the foundation for new federal health legislation and a wave of innovations to prevent this situation from happening again.

The Ares War continues during the Pandemic.