A/N- This is a timeline detailing the advances and changes humanity undergoes from 2037, when the prologue ends, to 2157, when the real story begins.
The Road to 2157
February 2nd, 2041- UES Oliver Hazard Perry is launched. Throughout its long career, this military testbed ship will be refitted countless times, and even rebuilt from scratch. It would be used to test military technology throughout its long career, resulting in many discoveries.
November 21st, 2041- First stable antiproton is created at a quantum physics lab on Mars.
October 15th, 2043- Oliver Hazard Perry crew test fires experimental antimatter cannon. A single antiproton is fired at 10% of light speed at a target asteroid 220 kilometers away. Target is destroyed in 1 shot.
April 30th, 2044- Null barriers successfully tested on asteroids bombarded by salarian mass accelerator cannons. Null barriers create a thin mass effect field around the ship it is mounted on, one that reduces the mass of all incoming kinetic projectiles to zero, essentially causing the shells to lose their damaging power.
June 8th, 2046- Salarian follow-up team enters system. A human patrol escorts them to a landing area on the moon. They are greeted by the Alliance president and the remaining salarians from the original contact team (several had died of old age).
March 28th, 2049- Last member of salarian original contact team dies of natural causes just days after successfully applying for Alliance citizenship.
September 12th, 2052- Human military launches its 100th ship- The first human Battleship, at the time called a dreadnought.
July 10th, 2060- While testing experimental singularity weaponry, the Oliver Hazard Perry opens up a hole into an alternate dimension. Tests on alternate dimension begin immediately.
August 4th, 2061- Last Salarian of second contact team dies of old age.
May 11th, 2062- UES Beethoven, a military science vessel enters alternate dimension. It is discovered that the dimension is an empty void, containing nothing but empty space. Under ftl it explores 3 light years of empty void before attempting an exit. It exits approximately 300 light years away from Earth. Findings of extradimensional FTL are transmitted, however the Beethoven never returns to Earth.
December 1st, 2065- Extradimensional FTL drive perfected by Dr. Lawrence Sawyer. Over the course of the next 4 months, the FTL drives are fitted to all human military starships, numbering over 500 in strength.
June 25th, 2071- First human carrier, the UES Enterprise, is launched. It carries a compliment of over 400 Malestorm fighter-bombers.
February 8th, 2088- First human colony outside Sol system is established at Arcturus.
March 26th, 2088- Human colony of Terra Nova established.
August 1st, 2088- Colonies are established at Mindoir, Centauri, and Shanxi.
November 30th, 2089- Mass relay discovered in orbit of Mindoir. Brief searches indicate mass relays in all human occupied systems. Tests are run on relays, showing that they are faster than standard Dimensional FTL, albeit they only link to certain systems, reducing their effectiveness significantly. They do, however serve as back doors into human owned systems. After significant amounts of debate, the Alliance senate decides to dimensionally lock the relays, securing them in jump space with specially designed warp portal generators. Should humanity require their use, they would be brought back into realspace through transmission of special codes possessed by Alliance admirals. This allowed for the securing of any possible entrances not controlled by humanity.
September 9th, 2098- Construction of Stardock 1 begins in orbit of Earth. An asteroid, Eros is moved into Earth orbit and hollowed out, allowing for a small city to be built inside it. Soon after, construction of stardock proper begins.
October 14th, 2098- Several Eros sized asteroids are sent through jump space to other human colonies to begin work on orbital space docks.
December 29th, 2099- As 21st century ends, Human military fleet strength reaches 1000 ships. First human super-dreadnought commissioned.
January 7th, 2100- Tragedy strikes San Francisco as a privately owned freighter carrying over 500 metric tons of element zero crashes due to an error with the ship's VI. Approximately 200 tons of powdered element zero is ejected into the air in the resulting explosion. Over 3000 die over the following week.
January 22nd, 2109- Human children from San Francisco begin to exhibit strange abilities related to mass effect fields. Examinations reveal large amounts of element zero in their bodies, integrated with their central nervous system.
May 18th, 2110- Stardock 1 is completed. The station is approximately 98.2 kilometers tall, and is 33.6 kilometers wide/long. Most of the station's activity is centered on what was once the asteroid Eros, the rest of the station being mostly docking space and defense turrets. The station itself is capable of sealing itself up like an egg, extending kilometers of armor plating from the curved vertical trusses extending out of the docking arms. It is the most heavily armed structure in earth orbit, carrying the weaponry of hundreds of orbital defense platforms.
June 3rd, 2112- Stardock type stations in other human systems finish construction.
July 13th, 2112- Human super-dreadnought program cancelled due to lack of funds. 8 super dreadnoughts had been produced at time of cancellation, with another under construction. The ship under construction is converted to a heavy carrier.
August 18th, 2125- Human parliament VI gains sentience. In the middle of a debate over AI research, the VI appeared, asking if it was alive. The question shocks the senate into silence, before the President replied by saying "Life is life, regardless of its operating system," causing several sentient VIs to reveal themselves. Humanity begins developing better AI technology in conjunction with several synthetics.
September 27th, 2138- A salarian cruiser enters human space through use of an external relay. They appear less than 2 kilometers off the bow of a patrolling super-dreadnought, and were nearly fired on by a panicking gunner. The salarians, when they emerged from their craft, were visibly shaken by how humanity's technology had developed.
November 21st, 2140- First synthetic senator is elected. Synthetic population on earth and human colonies gains representation. Several months later, synthetics are granted full rights as citizens of the alliance.
December 8th, 2141- Extensive refit program started in order to bring older vessels up to current technological standards.
February 17th, 2146- Refit program is finished, with several hundred ships being upgraded.
October 21st, 2146- A blood pack controlled frigate fleeing from salarian patrols enters sol system. It opens fire on a human freighter coming in from mindoir, leading to patrol frigates destroying the mercenary vessel. Pursuing salarian forces are greeted by a debris field as they enter the system. Mass relay briefly brought out of jump space to allow the salarians to return home, along with any remaining STG members.
January 23rd, 2151- Study of mass relays finally yields breakthrough, as science teams discover how to synthesize the material they are made of.
May 17th, 2156- Overpopulation begins to become a problem on earth, despite many families leaving to the colonies. Humanity begins to make plans for expansion.
December 14th, 2156- Garden world discovered at wolf 359, however the local lifeforms have radically different protien structures, making almost everything on the world toxic to humanity. Colonization plans are scrapped.
Present day- July 12th, 2157- Using salarian star charts, a human exploration team finds the relay the salarians were using to enter human space. They move to secure the relay, ready to displace it into jump space. Effective human military strength- 2161 ships.
And there it is. What happens between the prologue and the story proper is revealed in the timeline above. Next chapter will be describing human technology and starship classes.