Foreword
This is a narrative exploring the modern world thrown into the Clone Wars. It will explore battles featuring the world's top vehicles and weapons, as well as exploring issues of politics, logistics, economics, marco-strategy, and espionage. I have taken inspiration for this piece from two different sources, one being Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy, and the fanfic A Single Decision by Timewatch. You will see the shadows of both here, so I want to credit them right away. Also, I am trying to make this as accurate to the real world as possible, and have done extremely extensive research to that end, that being said, I have never served in the military, so please do me a favor and tell me of any mistakes that I will likely make in that area, so that together we can make the best story possible as far as attempted realism goes.
This timeline is not strictly necessary for the story, and is just meant to fill gaps and ease my job in filling in eighty eight years of time between 1945 and 2023. Read it if you like, otherwise, skip to Chapter 1.
Timeline
December 17th, 1945: On a blustery winter's day in Bern, Switzerland, amateur nuclear physicists solve a series of extremely advanced equations stemming from the work of Albert Einstein. What they discovered sent waves through the scientific world. They discovered that an object could travel far faster than the speed of light in real time without breaking Einstein's theory of General Relativity by entering another dimension they named Hyperspace. While it required an amount of energy currently beyond the realm of possibility, the number was not infinite, making Hyperspace translation possible in theory.
April 29th, 1948: Working together, the world's greatest minds draw plans for a proposed Hyperspace translation device, which could theoretically allow a crewed vessel to travel faster than the speed of light. The only issue is the power source, which does not yet exist. Looking for a leg up over the Soviets, the United States funds research into the project, and effort is begun on numerous telescopes to map the nearby stars. Should man ever break orbit, then they could navigate the stars with proper calculations.
November 1st, 1952: A Hydrogen Fusion bomb is detonated in a remote atoll over the Pacific Ocean. The energy yield is enough to fuel the Hyperspace Drive, if only nuclear fusion could be controlled. The newly formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization prioritizes nuclear fusion and space research over all else, knowing that this could give them the advantage over the communists, even beyond any bomb.
June 27th, 1955: Riding the tip of what is essentially a giant missile, Robert Fuchs becomes the first man to ever go to space. The mission begins a space race between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
June 24th, 1957: A controlled nuclear fusion reactor is created by scientists in Berkeley, California. The US Navy immediately takes over the project, and trials begin to attempt to mate the reactor to a prototype Hyperspace Drive at the secret test facility near Rachael, Nevada. Meanwhile, the first space station was completed as a joint effort between all NATO countries. The NATO Space Station is immediately put to use constructing a vessel to travel to another star and back.
November 29th, 1960: Three American astronauts board the Zeus 4 spacecraft, and are blasted into upper Earth orbit. Their mission is to perform a Hyperspace translation to Neptune and then to return to Earth. A computer the size of a city block completed their calculations ahead of time, and the men are along for the ride, nevertheless, they are about to make history. At 9:35 pm ET, William Kellan, Jack Tyler, and John Hendricks become the first people to ever visit another planet, performing a single orbit around Neptune and taking many pictures and samples before returning to Earth.
January 1st, 1962: Construction of Horizon is completed in lower Earth orbit, and after weeks of trials and shakedowns, her crew of twenty three astronauts are brought aboard. She is meant to be a voyage of all humanity, and in that effort, the crew is made up of both men and women, and includes people from every continent on Earth. On the morning of the New Year, she departs for the Proxima Centauri System. She returns that evening successfully, and history is made once more. Many more missions are planned, and the role of the NATO navies shifts from the oceans to the stars. The Soviets are falling behind, and facing irrelevance in the face of the grand advancement of humanity.
August 18th, 1963: A joint NATO colony is established on a habitable world in the Proxima Centauri System. As humanity looks to populate the stars, the biggest baby boom in history begins. With resources flowing in from the outer planets, asteroid belt, and new colony, the western economy booms.
December 23rd, 1963: The Soviet Union collapses rather anti-climatically, with each member country appealing to the West to be brought forward into the new world order. NATO accepts more member states. Without the competing interests of the communists and capitalists, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia all become more stable and peaceful. Religious fundamentalism takes a downturn, in exchange for education. Seeing investment opportunities, entrepreneurs invest in the developing world, and there is much growth and success.
March 21st, 1965: History is made once more, when a scout ship makes contact with a shuttle carrying diplomats from the Galactic Republic. The revelations are shocking. The galaxy is in fact densely populated with all kinds of intelligent life imaginable, including extra terrestrial humans. When the news breaks on Earth, there is pandemonium, and upheaval, followed quickly by intense calls for unity. It is the greatest development in human history, and the world agrees that there needs to be a united front presented when Earth's breed of humanity shows up on the galactic stage.
November 31st, 1965: The United Nations assumes control of the planet Earth, the Sol System, and Proxima Centauri, becoming the United Nations of Sol. An international team of politicians drafts a founding charter, called the Pacific Accords, for the new government.
January 3rd, 1966: The President leads a delegation of diplomats to Coruscant, to meet with Supreme Chancellor Kalpana. The meeting is a success, and numerous treaties and trade agreements are signed, though the UNS does not join the Republic. The President does, however, get onto good terms with the Trade Federation, and signs a lucrative trade deal. He also claims the eight nearby uninhabited systems as UNS space. The planets are given jurisdiction by each of the old nations, with Earth shifting to a single planet jurisdiction. In all but name, the UNS has become the united planets more than the united nations. The new UNS sector is found at the four corners between grid Q8, Q9, R8, and R9, and forms a vital connection between the Perlimian Trade Route and the Lesser Lantiillian Trade Route, giving the UNS some sway on the galactic stage.
1965-1970: The sparsely populated colonies grow in population and output, and with its growing population comes growing power. The UNS consolidates its interstellar trading companies into a single state owned and operated company called Proxima Heavy Industries. The company produces a massive array of materials from mines on Proxima and factories all across UNS space, and engages in trade across the galaxy, signing lucrative deals with both the Trade Federation and Techno Union.
1970s: The UNS prospers from the huge influx of wealth courtesy of its state run company and taxes provided from its newly asserted control of the Perlinian and Lesser Lantiillian Trade Routes. With its increasing prosperity, it begins to face pressure to join the Republic, though it staunchly refuses. The UNS enjoys the privileges of its independence, and will not give it up easily.
1980s: The UNS population is growing massively, and its colonies begin to urbanize, each becoming beacons of prosperity in the sector. Proxima Heavy Industries expands its reach across the entire galaxy, becoming a true galactic player on par with the other great corporations. This is met with backlash from the Republic, and a spate of unlawful seizures raise tensions. The UNS purchases a fleet of twelve Lucrehulk-Class Battleships and numerous other cruisers and destroyers to supplement its navy of what are essentially patrol craft.
1990s: A Republic patrol craft seizes a UNS flag freighter bound for Hutt Space, and impounds the ship and crew, claiming that the vessel was transporting contraband. The UNS sends a large portion of its fleet to reclaim the freighter, resulting in a tense standoff between UNS and Republic vessels. After several tense hours, the Republic backs down and the freighter is freed.
2001: Proxima Heavy Industries' success has tightened Trade Federation profit margins, but the company has become too important of a trade partner for Viceroy Gunray to risk a confrontation. Instead, he takes up with the mysterious Darth Sidious, and blockades Naboo, looking for a decrease in Republic taxes on Hyperspace Lanes.
2000s: The Republic increases taxation on the Outer Rim, creating resentment among the Outer Rim, and in the UNS. The UNS has resisted the Republic for decades, and the pressure to join, followed by increasing economic sanctions, further worsens relations. In 2003, the UNS begins to deal directly with clients in the Rim, bypassing the Republic completely. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine calls it an act of dissent, since the systems with which the UNS deals are Republic worlds, despite not being a part of the Republic itself, and levels sanctions on the UNS.
2010s: The sanctions begin to put a squeeze on Earth and the colonies, and pressure builds on Brussels to act. The people are upset and resentful as the economy takes a downturn.
2015-2019: Count Dooku approaches the UNS parliament for a secret meeting, wanting the UNS to pledge their support to the Confederacy of Independent Systems in the war to come. The UNS declines, opting to remain neutral and wishing to avoid a war. The war breaks out in 2019 with the Republic firing the first shots on Geonosis, and the UNS maintains their neutrality.
2020: The UNS is staunchly neutral, despite being sympathetic to the Separatist cause. Both sides try to bully the small society onto their side, but ultimately they both fail. Unlike their unluckier neighbors, the UNS has enough military power to dissuade either side from invading. More warships are purchased from the CIS, and work begins on a project to build the UNS's first homegrown capital ships.
2021: The UNS faces mounting pressure to join the Republic as the war intensifies, as worlds all around the UNS fall to the Republic offensive. With the Separatists appearing to be losing, the UNS stays neutral. The people want war with the Republic as the economic situation worsens, but senior military advisors see the Separatists losing, and advise against joining the sinking ship.
2022: With the Separatists pushed back into the Outer Rim and with their Core Worlds either fallen or under siege, the war appears to be lost, it seems wise to have chosen not to ally with Count Dooku.
May 23rd, 2023: The Separatist Fleet raids Coruscant, and all at once, everything changes…