Ask and thy shall recieve. For the people that don't have half a lifetime to study the backgrounds, I'll post a summary later.
Prologue
The darkness in the small room seemed almost unnatural. ,,This is it'', whispered the old man, more to himself than to his partner. The light of his portable torch danced across the wall for a few seconds, before finally settling on an antiquated console. ,,You sound as though we'd made the archeological find of the century'', commented his partner, a giant of a man in an orange jumpsuit. ,,I don't get it. You spend half a lifetime searching for this place, and now that you're finally here, your first stop is the datacore?'' The old man threw him an annoyed look. ,,The datacore is the only reason I'm here, boy. Now quiet yourself, I need to concentrate.'' His nimble fingers moved over the console, and after a few seconds the dust began to give way to small keys, covered with vaguely recognisable symbols.
,,Hold on'', muttered the large man, as he connected a small machine to the console. He glared at the small datascreen on the device. ,,As we suspected, there are some compatibility issues. However, I think I should be able t..'', his voice was drowned out by the roar of the machine. Seconds later, the console came to life for the first time in many lifetimes. ,,You've done it!'', shrieked the old man, while rapidly working the buttons. Suddenly, a small part of the wall lit up, revealing a viewscreen of about a meter in diameter.
,,Welcome to the New Terra Historical Database'', stated a pleasant female voice. ,,Her accent is alien, but her tongue.. it sounds like Anglo-Terran'', observed the old man. The man in the orange jumpsuit merely nodded and activated his retinal-camera.
,,Please state your request'', the voice continued.
,,Access Central Archive. New Human Calender, year 50'', ordered her eager operator. The viewscreen flickered, then showed the picture of a lush waterplanet. ,,Planet Mars, during the First Colonial Project'', commented the voice. Within seconds, the camera turned to reveal a dozen large spaceships launching from the planets surface. ,,The first Colonial Project was launched at the request of the Martian Planetary Government. Fearing the same disaster that befell Earth would also devastate this last bastion of humanity, they financed a large scale interplanetary resettlement project.'' The camera closed in on the ships, which all looked identical. ,,The is original footage, taken from an orbital media-satellite'', explained the computer. ,,The MC1-Colonial Voyager was over twenty km in length and at least six kilometer wide. Each of them held over ten thousand colonists''. The camera whirled around, focussing again on the planet. ,,Although the project was a success, it also bankrupted the Martian Government.'', the voice continued. ''During the Economic Crisis of NHC 76, the..''
The old man worked the buttons, immediately silencing the computer. ,,I switched to manual control, seeing as we have to work under severe time-constraints, he answered the unspoken question of his partner. The viewscreen flickered, displaying a small moon in orbit around a massive gas-giant. ,,Mycenea III'', stated the computer. ,,Colonized in NHC 112. This small moon owes its claim to fame to the fact that the Gölzman drives were created by Mycenean scientists in NHC 128. The G-drives allowed intersystem-travel in months, instead of decades.'' The viewscreen displayed a 3-dimensional map of space, on which a dozen systems were highlighted. ,,In NHC 132, a Mycenean team of explorers set out in an attempt to locate the other orginal colonists. Although this attempt was largely successful, decades of isolation had brought about severe social- and political changes on five of the twelve colony worlds. The most well-known is the Neo-Marxist Alliance of Alpha-Centauri, but on at lea..'' The computer-voice died yet again as the old man's fingers ordered another leap through time. This time, the viewscreen displayed rather grizzly images of human corpses floating through space, occasionally colliding with the wrecks of massive spaceships. The computer remained silent for several seconds. When the woman did begin to speak, the camera turned towards a planet that looked to be mainly covered with forests and lakes. Seconds later, whole continents were engulved in flames as dozens of ships open fire from orbit. ,,With the destruction of New-Babylon, the last of the so-called Utopian League-Planets, the Colonies were united under single rule for the first time in history. The Centralists initially decided to create a systems-wide parliamentary democracy, but were soon confronted with the limitations of the S3 Gölzman drives. Because even the fastest courier ships needed days to weeks to travel between worlds, effectively communicating government decrees proved to be impossible. Therefore, under the Revised Unified Systems Pact of NHC 189, all planets gained greater autonomy in several areas, including regional trade, ..'' The computer fell silent as images of unknown politicians and events flashed by. After a few minutes, the old man found what he was looking for. The word 're-enactment' appeared briefly on the monitor, followed by footage of a pale, small man with almost rat-like features being chased through the streets of what looks like a ghost city. His pursuers look strangely out of place in the desolate town, wearing black metal armor and carrying large weapons. ,,Doctor A.L.'', stated the computer, using only his initials. ,,The first to combine the standard DNA-modification sequences with advanced nano-tech. His failed experiments led to the first ban on Nano-Genetic technology in NHC 195.''
Suddenly, the images on the viewscreen fade, and the room returns to darkness. ,,The generator is still working'', states the large man, after having re-activated his torch. The old man opens his mouth to speak, but is silenced by bombastic classical music that sounds from unseen speakers. On the monitor, the words 'the Age of Expansion' appear, only to be replaced by brief images of lines being drawn across galactic-charts and small spaceships soaring between the stars. After the initial presentation is over, the viewscreen shows images of a small number of men and women in white coats, presenting a small device to a cheering crowd. ,,The first S4 Gölzman Drive'', the computer comments. ,,Allowing for unparalleled mobility. Although this engine heralded the start of the second large Colonial Project, it also allowed the weakened central government on New-Terra to directly govern its planets for the first time in history. This led to tensions between New-Terra and several of the border-worlds. Ultimately resulting in the military occupation of Haven IV in NHC 212.'' The monitor showed the wreck of what appeared to be a medium-sized passenger-ship. ,,The Zulkov-incident proved to be another boon for the Centralists. After passenger-liner Zulkov 5 was destroyed after it hit a so-called 'mini-wormhole', or 'micro-rupture' as it is more commonly referred to, government-scientists quickly discovered ways to detect these tiny ruptures in subspace. While these mini-wormholes were to small to utilize for the transportation of goods between two points, they did allow for instant communication between two points in space, provided there were similar holes on both locations.'' The screen showed the fast-forwarded construction of a large, cylinder-shaped spacestation. ,,In order to retain their monopoly on internet-systems communication, the Parliamentary Systems Government, or PSG, ordered the construction of the Wayfarer-spacestations on the sites of the mini-ruptures.'' After displaying a map with the locations of various inhabited worlds, the computer stated: ,,through the Wayfarer-Network and a vast network of courier ships, a message from New-Terra could make its way to any PSG planet in less then two days.'' The chart of Terran space gave way to a larger map, on which several new planets were highlighted. All of which seemed to be located at a great distance from any human planet. ,,The only exceptions were the mining-planets TX15, TX17, SL29 and SL36'', the womans voice stated. The computer showed pictures of the uninviting, rocklike surfaces of several planets. ,,These planets were deemed too desolate and too far removed from Terran space to be suitable for terraforming. They were also light-years away from the nearest rupture, making communication with the PSG-planets difficult at best. Since the New Terran government had no interest in colonizing these distant planets, they were sold to the Cortez & Sons Mining Corporation in NHC 219.'' The old man grabbed his partner by the arm. ,,Be sure to record this'', he ordered. The large man nodded. ,,I've got everything'', he assured his partner. The computer proceeded to show several statistics. ,,These are demographic charts of the Silverfall population. Silverfall quickly became the capital of what would become briefly known as the 'Cortez-Republic' in NHC 248. At first, the planet was a small mining outpost and the regional corporate headquarters of Cortez, but since it wasn't under PSG-jurisdiction it began attracting tens of thousands of refugees after the Haven-Crisis. Although terraforming was beyond the budget of the Cortez-Corporation, dozens of orbital- and surface-habitats were placed to meet the requirements of the massive population growth.'' The old man frowned as he saw dozens of warships circling Silverfall. ,,Although several successive PSG-presidencies advocated military action against the Cortez-worlds, the wealthy corporation had enough supporters in parliament to prevent the Yung and Sanders administrations from gaining the two/thirds majority required for war'', the computer explained. ,,However, as the PSG collapsed after the bombing of the Planetary Parliament in Novaterra in NHC 253, so did the so-called Cortez-Republic. Santiago Cortez, who had declared himself President for life, was lynched by an angry mob after famine and the yellow-plague began spreading through The Republic. In NHC 254, the former Cortez-worlds declared themselves independent from both their corporate masters and any future Terran government. They proceeded to found the Confederation of Independent Planets, or CO-IP. All Cortez-holdings were seized and nationalized.'' The viewscreen went black for few seconds, then continued to display pictures of war. Scores of spaceships firing on each other, planets burning and soldiers discharging their weapons at hordes of panicking civilians. ,,The mass-disruption of trade-routes during the Terran Civil War of NHC 255 led to a crisis on dozens of worlds, which were now cut off from vital resources, such as food and the various quarillium-fuels'', the computer said, and continued to display four flags on the viewscreen. ,,The Unified Terran Alliance, or UTA, consisted of New-Terra and several other technologically advanced worlds with low-degrees of industrialisation. They fought to restore PSG authority, yet were seriously hampered by their lacking infrastructure'', the voice stated while zooming in on the first flag.
The signatories of the Orion-treaty were mostly agricultural worlds that had elected to remain neutral, but feared they would prove to be too tempting a target to the larger planets, where famine was rapidly proving to be a major source of social-disruption. Pooling their resources, they successfully resisted several UTA incursions.
The mineral-rich Confederation of Independent Planets was devastated by famine and civil-unrest during the conflict, and its collective population dropped from 800 million to 554 million. And lastly, the Separatist Movement consisted of a rag-tag collection of religious- and political groups that demanded the right to reform their worlds without the interference of any kind of inter-systems government. Although they made significant strides in the early years of the war, they were fought to a standstill in NHC 262, after the UTA managed to seize control of their primary shipyards at Mycenea III.''
Suddenly, the face of war gave way to room full of diplomats. ,,The Hellespond Conference in NHC 264'', explained the computer, before switching to a picture of a dozen shipwrecks. By the looks of it, the ships weren't merely destroyed, they were almost pulverized. ,,The ET-incident of 264 proved to be the salvation of the unification movement'', said the computer. ,,After entering sector 42/13, all contact was lost with the 12 ships of an UTA-battlegroup that was scouting for Separatist Strongholds in the unexplored space on the other side of the famous 42/11 line. Although it was initially believed that Separatist Kamikaze vessels were responsible for the destruction, the fact that all subsequent missions on the other side of 'The Line' resulted in either the disappearance or the destruction of all vessels involved led UTA-command to suspect the possible involvement of extra-terrestrials. Although several Deep Space Telescopes were placed near the border, no sign of alien life was picked up. However, the belief that humanity might face a common enemy in the near future brought virtually all parties in the conflict to the bargaining table. At the Hellespond Conference, all of the 24 'cluster-planets', or 'central- planets' and an additional 12 'outer-planets' agreed to the founding of a Terran Coalition. All of the member planets agreed to the founding of a unified Terran military, but retained considerable regional autonomy. They also annulled the ban on the nano-genetic technology, allowing for the creation of a new generation of human soldiers.'' The image of diplomats gave way to footage of healthy looking men and women outrunning and outfighting groups of their peers. ,,It did not take long for the politicians to regret their decision, as the modified humans, or Genmods, proved to be considerably stronger, faster and smarter than any of their peers. Within years, their superior abilities had allowed them to dominate the military and their extended life expectancies would allow them to stay at their posts for decades longer than any normal human. In NHC 291, the ban on the creation of 'supersoldiers' through the use of nanotechnology and genetic manipulation was put back into place.'' The screen flashes and showed low-quality camera footage of a single, unarmed woman taking down half a dozen surprised looking soldiers in hand to hand combat. ,,In NHC 293, the Genmods seized control of the Wayfarer stations, throwing The Coalition into disarray. They believed that politicians' fear of their fellow humans had let them to gamble with the future of all of humanity. Their message proved to be popular, especially among the Terran Military. And since most planets no longer had troops of their own, virtually all of them surrendered without a fight. Those that didn't were bombed into submission.'' The computer paused for a few seconds, then continued by showing images of soldiers surrounding what appears to be an ancient ruin. ,,The Genmods installed a highly centralized government on New-Terra. And although the core-systems enjoyed a limited amount of regional self-government, the more distant planets were put directly under the control of the military. Despite the fact that Human Cohesion and the Protection of Humanity were the central points on their agenda, the creation of new Genmods gradually came to a halt during their reign. And as of NHC 300, the Terran defence budget started dropping and the population gradually started gaining more civil liberties. None the less, resistance against the Genmod movement grew during this period. Eventually culminating in the failed attack on Wayfarer 9.'' The computer showed pictures of The Outlands, a massive nebula at the very edge of human space. ,,After the Kerhov-Yokohama expedition returned from The Outlands, the Genmods chanced their policies, launching a project they codenamed 'Salvation'. Although the findings of the expedition and the nature of Project Salvation are still classified today, it is generally believed they are in some way related to the conflicts of 321 and onwards. Certain is that the The Great Repression of NHC 301-306 was directly related to 'Salvation'. During this period, millions of humans were shipped to death-camps and entire cities were bombed into the ground. It was never clear against whom these measures were directed. People and planets seemed to be targeted at random. As fear gave way to anger, many people joined The Red Generation. An inter-systems resistance group that was led by the legendary Gabriella Nicolas. Nicolas herself led several daring raids on New-Terra Death Camps, freeing thousands of prisoners from various planets. The Genmods reacted to this with an unparalleled campaign of intimidation, while also placing a 1000.000 credit reward on the head of Gabriella Nicolas. They also occupied the previously neutral Silverfall, starting a war with the resource-rich Confederation of Independent Planets. Silverfall was quickly turned into a military stronghold, but oddly enough, they mainly focussed the rest of their attention on planets that were strategically irrelevant, allowing the Confederation to win victory after victory. The attention of Genmods, however, had long since shifted from the war to the archeological digs on their fortress-planets. These sites are still locked-down government safe-zones today.'' The viewscreen displayed pictures of statues being toppled and cheering masses in the streets. ,,In 306 NHC, the Red Resistance stormed the so-called Lightning-Palace in New-Terra. All members of the Genmod government were killed. At the same time, resistance forces seized control of all remaining 32 Genmod planets. It is widely believed that spies within the Wayfarer stations allowed them to coordinate these actions. The few surviving Genmods were either executed or imprisoned for life'', said the computer. Next, is showed pictures of warships being dismantled. ,,Resistance Leader Gabriella Nicolas was chosen to head an interim-government that was to lead humanity back to democracy. Despite loud calls for complete decentralisation, she called for the creation of an Inter-systems Federation, that was to be led by a strong executive branch, called The High Council. Her popularity was such that 16 of the original 36 Coalition worlds decided to sign up for this project. The remainder of the planets either became completely independent or joined the Confederation of Independent Planets. The new High Council held strong powers in areas such as Collective Defence, Trade and Healthcare but generally did not meddle in local affairs. Planets were even allowed to maintain their own militia, which would allow them to rise up, should the Federal Government ever become too oppressive. Although Council-members were only elected for eight years, the Senate voted to change the law so the immensely popular Nicolas could be made High-Councilor for life.'' The old man reached into his pockets and produced a small handheld computer, on which he began to take notes. His partner frowned. ,,You do know I'm recording all of this?', he enquired. ,,Yes, yes, just organising my thoughts'', came the reply. After a minute, the old man reached for the console and ordered another leap through time.
The viewscreen began to flicker, then displayed low-quality footage of an enormous planet. Its surface almost completely covered by a single, large city. The camera zoomed in, showing thousands of civilian- and military-vessels leaving orbit. Seconds later, the screaming began. Countless screams, pleas for mercy and requests for assistance echo through the room as a second monitor shows images of hordes of refugees, all trying to board a small vessel. ,,Can you turn down the volume''', shouted the large man, who had covered his ears with his hands.
,,The Haven IV genocide of NHC 322, said the computer, even as the screaming continued. The old man frowned. The female voice of the computer, which had remained neutral and calm even while displaying planet wide-atrocities, had suddenly turned grim. ,,This was recorded by a military spacecraft'', the computer commented. The old man averted his eyes as the millions of lights on the planet-surface slowly began to fade. ,,Enough'', he muttered as he worked the console.
,,Accessing the Military Archive'', said a male computer voice. ,,Date: NHC 321/09/21 - Sector 42/11 - Pandora-System - Vessel: TF-Arioch, Hades-Class - Mission: Border Patrol - Estimated Mission Duration: 5 months/29 days - Crew: 75'', the computer stated. The viewscreen showed a computer animation of the ship type, which closely resembles an arrow. ,,Perfect'', whispered the old man. ,,Computer, open the mission archives'', he ordered. His partner stepped forward and cautiously tapped him on the shoulder. ,,Francis, I've got C&C on the Comm. They say long-range sensors have picked up a large object heading this way. We're almost out of time.'' The old man stared at the screen, his eyes gleaming fanatically. ,,Don't worry'', he said. ''I've found it.''